Equids--zebras, Asses, and Horses

Equids--zebras, Asses, and Horses
Author: Patricia Des Roses Moehlman
Publisher: IUCN
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2002
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9782831706474

The new Equid Action Plan provides current knowledge on the biology, ecology and conservation status of wild zebras, asses, and horses. It specifies what information is lacking, and prioritizes needed conservation actions. The Action Plan also provides chapters on equid taxonomy, genetics, reproductive biology, and population dynamics. These chapters highlight unsolved issues of taxonomy and genetics. They also provide information and insight into the special demographic and genetic challenges of managing small populations. The chapter on disease provides a review of documented equine disease and epidemiology and focuses on priorities for equid conservation health. The final chapter deals with the importance of developing an assessment methodology that explicitly considers the role of equids in ecosystems and the ecological processes that are necessary for ecosystem viability. The approach of combining ecological field studies and ecosystem modeling should prove useful for the scientific management and conservation of wild equids worldwide. These chapters provide research and conservation practitioners with new information and paradigms.

Wild Equids

Wild Equids
Author: Jason I. Ransom
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2016-06-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1421419106

The first expert synthesis of the diverse studies conducted on wild equids worldwide. Wild horses, zebras, asses, and feral equines exhibit intriguing and complex social structures that captivate the human imagination and elicit a wide range of emotions that influence conservation and management efforts. This book, spearheaded by Jason I. Ransom and Petra Kaczensky, brings together the world's leading experts on equid ecology, management, and conservation to provide a synthesis of what is known about these iconic species and what needs to be done to prevent losing some of them altogether. The most comprehensive conservation book on wild equids in decades, this title will enlighten not only equid researchers, but also mammalogists, conservationists, and equine professionals. Readers will find new insight into the lives of the world's horses, zebras, and asses, understand the basis of our relationships with these animals, and develop a greater understanding of where equids come from and why they are worth conserving. Included in this book are detailed, state-of-the-science syntheses on Social structure, behavior, and cognition Habitat and diet Ecological niches Population dynamics Roles of humans in horse distribution through time Human dimensions and the meaning of wild Management of free-roaming horses Captive breeding of wild equids Conservation of wild equids Conservation of migrations Reintroductions Genetics and paleogenetics

Zebra Stripes

Zebra Stripes
Author: Timothy M. Caro
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2016-12-05
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 022641101X

Why do zebras have stripes? Popular explanations range from camouflage to confusion of predators, social facilitation, and even temperature regulation. It is a challenge to test these proposals on large animals living in the wild, but using a combination of careful observations, simple field experiments, comparative information, and logic, Caro concludes that black-and-white stripes are an adaptation to thwart biting fly attack.

Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program

Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 399
Release: 2013-10-04
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0309264944

Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward reviews the science that underpins the Bureau of Land Management's oversight of free-ranging horses and burros on federal public lands in the western United States, concluding that constructive changes could be implemented. The Wild Horse and Burro Program has not used scientifically rigorous methods to estimate the population sizes of horses and burros, to model the effects of management actions on the animals, or to assess the availability and use of forage on rangelands. Evidence suggests that horse populations are growing by 15 to 20 percent each year, a level that is unsustainable for maintaining healthy horse populations as well as healthy ecosystems. Promising fertility-control methods are available to help limit this population growth, however. In addition, science-based methods exist for improving population estimates, predicting the effects of management practices in order to maintain genetically diverse, healthy populations, and estimating the productivity of rangelands. Greater transparency in how science-based methods are used to inform management decisions may help increase public confidence in the Wild Horse and Burro Program.

Fossil Horses

Fossil Horses
Author: Bruce J. MacFadden
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 388
Release: 1994-06-24
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780521477086

The horse has frequently been used as a classic example of long-term evolution because it possesses an extensive fossil record. This book synthesizes the large body of data and research relevant to an understanding of fossil horses from perspectives such as biology, geology, paleontology.

The Rise of Horses

The Rise of Horses
Author: Jens Lorenz Franzen
Publisher:
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2010-02
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

Accessibly written and featuring full-color photographs and illustrations throughout, The Rise of Horses is the complete chronicle of the evolution of the equids.

Ecology of Social Evolution

Ecology of Social Evolution
Author: Judith Korb
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2008-02-23
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3540759573

The time is ripe to investigate similarities and differences in the course of social evolution in different animals. This book brings together renowned researchers working on sociality in different animals to deal with the key questions of sociobiology. For the first time, they compile the evidence for the importance of ecological factors in the evolution of social life, ranging from invertebrate to vertebrate social systems, and evaluate its importance versus that of relatedness.

The White River Badlands

The White River Badlands
Author: Rachel C. Benton
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2015-05-25
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0253016088

This guide to the South Dakota region that houses the world’s richest fossil beds does “an excellent job of presenting the current state of knowledge” (Choice). The forbidding Big Badlands in Western South Dakota contain the richest fossil beds in the world. Even today these rocks continue to yield new specimens brought to light by snowmelt and rain washing away soft rock deposited on a floodplain long ago. The quality and quantity of the fossils are superb: most of the species to be found there are known from hundreds of specimens. The fossils in the White River Group (and similar deposits in the American west) preserve the entire late Eocene through the middle Oligocene, roughly 35-30 million years ago and more than thirty million years after non-avian dinosaurs became extinct. The fossils provide a detailed record of a period of abrupt global cooling and what happened to creatures who lived through it. This book is a comprehensive reference to the sediments and fossils of the Big Badlands, and also touches on National Park Service management policies that help protect such significant fossils. Includes photos and illustrations “A worthy successor to the work of O’Harra.” —Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

The Horse

The Horse
Author: Wendy Williams
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2015-10-27
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0374709777

The New York Times bestseller: “Lifelong equestrian enthusiast Williams takes on the topic at full gallop . . . [a] lively, fascinating read.” —Discover A Best Book of 2015, The Wall Street Journal A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Journalist and equestrienne Wendy Williams chronicles the 56-million-year journey of horses as she visits with experts around the world, exploring what our biological affinities and differences can tell us about the bond between horses and humans, and what our longtime companion might think and feel. Indeed, recent scientific breakthroughs regarding the social and cognitive capacities of the horse and its ability to adapt to changing ecosystems indicate that this animal is a major evolutionary triumph. Williams charts the course that leads to our modern Equus-from the protohorse to the Dutch Warmbloods, Thoroughbreds, and cow ponies of the twenty-first century. She observes magnificent ancient cave art in France and Spain that signals a deep respect and admiration for horses well before they were domesticated; visits the mountains of Wyoming with experts in equine behavior to understand the dynamics of free-roaming mustangs; witnesses the fluid gracefulness of the famous Lipizzans of Vienna; contemplates what life is like for the sure-footed, mustachioed Garrano horses who thrive on the rugged terrain of Galicia; meets a family devoted to rehabilitating abandoned mustangs on their New Hampshire farm; celebrates the Takhi horses of Mongolia; and more. She blends profound scientific insights with remarkable stories to create a unique biography of the horse as a sentient being with a fascinating past and a finely nuanced mind.

Equine Genomics

Equine Genomics
Author: Bhanu P. Chowdhary
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 349
Release: 2013-04-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0813815630

Analysis of the equine genome began just over a decade ago, culminating in the recent complete sequencing of the horse genome. The availability of the equine whole genome sequence represents the successful completion of an important era of equine genome analysis, and the beginning of a new era where the sequence information will catalyze the development of new tools and resources that will permit study of a range of traits that are economically important and are significant to equine health and welfare. Equine Genomics provides a timely comprehensive overview of equine genomic research. Chapters detail key accomplishments and the current state of research, as well as looking forward to possible applications of genomic technologies to horse breeding, health, and welfare. Equine Genomics delivers a global overview of the topic and is seamlessly edited by a leading equine genomics researcher. Equine Genomics is an indispensible source of information for anyone with an interest in this increasingly important field of study, including equine genomic researchers, clinicians, animal science professionals and equine field veterinarians.