探花直播 of Cambridge - horses

Would you place a Grand National bet on a Shetland pony?

amb206 — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 09:48:38 +0000

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One hundred and seventy years ago, the French state commissioned a physician called Louis Auzoux to make models of horse鈥檚 teeth as examples of healthy and unhealthy equine dentition. At a time when cadavers were in short supply, Auzoux had pioneered a method of making realistic models of human and animal bodies to use as teaching aids.

As horses mature, and then grow older, their teeth change. People familiar with horses can gauge a horse鈥檚 age by looking in its mouth. This practice is the origin of the saying, 鈥淒on鈥檛 look a gift horse in the mouth.鈥� In fact, this was a very good idea if you were buying a horse; in order to make an animal appear younger, and demand a higher price, dishonest dealers sometimes filed down horses鈥� teeth.

Malformed teeth, which prevent a horse from eating properly and affect its performance, are another problem to look out for 鈥� as are signs of 鈥榲ices鈥� such as crib-biting and wind-sucking.

探花直播Whipple Museum of the History of Science in Cambridge has a set of horse teeth models made by a factory set up by Auzoux. Dated 1890, and still housed in the sturdy case made to transport them, this 鈥榖ox set鈥� of smiling and grimacing equine teeth is one of the best-loved objects in the museum and takes prime position in its twitter feed.

Less than half a mile from the Whipple Museum is the Museum of Classical Archaeology, home to 35 plaster casts of horses, taken from the originals. Cantering, trotting, rearing and frolicking, these horses are the stars of the procession which winds its way around the famous frieze adorning the Parthenon, the showpiece temple atop the Akropolis in Athens.

探花直播Parthenon was erected when Athens was a flourishing city-state. Construction began in 447 BCE and was finally finished in 432. 探花直播temple celebrated the city鈥檚 patron goddess, Athena. 探花直播horses on the frieze were part of a procession honouring her during the Great Panathenaea. A festival which took place every four years, it featured athletic games including wrestling, javelin throwing and chariot racing.

探花直播frieze shows representatives of the city 鈥� city elders and officials, soldiers, young men and unmarried maidens, and even resident aliens, known as 鈥榤etics鈥� 鈥� coming together to process from the city walls to the top of the Akropolis and the temple itself. 鈥淭hese human figures represented the city, or polis, in microcosm,鈥� says Dr Susanne Turner, curator of the Museum of Classical Archaeology.

It is the horses, though, which dominate the frieze. Powerful and compact, with manes and tails flowing and small holes in the marble indicating that they originally wore bronze bridles, the horses are well attuned to the easy grace of the athletic youths on their backs and at their sides. Some of the riders wear flowing cloaks which fan out behind them, as if caught by a breeze. Many wear no other clothes.

鈥淭heir nudity is a sort of costume in itself,鈥� says Turner. 鈥淭here鈥檚 something inherently Greek about their nakedness. It connotes strength, beauty and idealised youthful masculinity, but it also carries a wider sense of cultural belonging.鈥�

探花直播rhythm of repeated and overlapping diagonals, made by the limbs of horses and riders, leads the eye across what was originally a frieze 160m in length, made up by 115 blocks. On the Parthenon the frieze would have soared 12m above floor level. 鈥淰iewers approaching the temple saw first the horses and their riders preparing to join the procession,鈥� says Turner.

鈥淎s they turned the corner to walk along the long sides of the temple, so too did the horses, now with riders and chariots. Layered side by side in small groups, they form a cavalcade whose forward motion draws the viewer onwards until they reach the doors of the temple 鈥� where the goddess herself was revealed inside, some 10m tall and sculpted from bright white ivory and shining gold.鈥�

Much ancient sculpture was brightly painted and the Parthenon frieze was probably no exception. Surviving evidence for colour is, however, scant. 鈥淎ncient colour combinations, where they can be reconstructed, often look harsh and garish to modern eyes. We tend to prefer our classical sculpture white,鈥� says Turner. 鈥� 探花直播Parthenon horses probably galloped across a bright blue background, their riders鈥� clothing and hair picked out in primary colours, perhaps with some gold leaf, too.鈥�

探花直播casts were purchased by the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1884, when the Museum of Classical Archaeology was first founded. Produced by a London workshop run by the Brucciani family, the casts are direct copies of the originals, taken from moulds produced by permission of the British Museum. They preserve the three-dimensional presence of the originals in a way which photographs cannot 鈥� breathing life into the horses as they high-step joyfully along the length of the frieze as only horses can.

Horses played a central role in the rise of many great civilisations. Archaeological evidence suggests that they were first domesticated during the Neolithic around 5,000 years ago somewhere in the vast grassy pastures of central Asia. 鈥淏otai in Kazakhstan has been identified as one of the earliest sites with domestic horses. Botai horses show tooth wear patterns characteristic of the use of harness, and horse milk lipids on pottery fragments show that horse milk was being used,鈥� says Dr Mim Bower, an expert in ancient DNA at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

鈥淗orse husbandry dispersed from the steppe, westward into Europe, via the grasslands of Eastern Europe or via Iberia, accompanying Bell Beaker cultures, and eastward into China and India. This was concurrent with the spread of chariots and fabulous material culture that comprised the 鈥榗hariot complex鈥� of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC 鈥� for example, the chariot burials at Sintashta and Southern Urals and cylinder seal impressions, depicting horses and chariots, from K眉ltepe in Turkey.鈥�

探花直播development of pastoral nomadism in central Eurasia between 1000 and 800 BC secured the role of the horse as a source of speed over ground and as an iconic symbol. 探花直播archaeological finds associated with this period include exquisitely decorated horse harness and adornments from 4th -3rd century BC sites, such as Pazyryk and Ak-Alakha, Altai and 7th 鈥� 4th century BC Arzhan, Tuva.

鈥淲here written records exist for these early periods, for example in China, they highlight the importance of the horse as a symbol of strength and power. Throughout the dynastic eras, horses gained an increasingly important military role. In the Western Zhou period, the raising of horses is recorded as a task that is overseen by kings. In later periods, the military power of the state was measured by the number of horse-chariots,鈥� says Bower.

鈥淭hese changes are concurrent with, and may have influenced, the intensification of long distance trade routes that connected the far reaches of Eurasia. Tradition states that trade routes, associated with the exchange of silk and spices, between China and Europe, began in the 2nd century BC, instigated by Han Emperor Wu. However, these long distance exchange networks have a deeper past. By 1000 BC, Chinese silk is found in Egypt and by 700 BC in Europe. Horses were almost certainly an integral part of these developments.鈥�

Arab horses were famed for their speed and beauty. It was from the Middle East that three Arab stallions were imported to Britain at the turn of the 18th century. 探花直播Darley Arabian, the Godolphin Arabian and the Byerley Turk were crossed with some 70 British mares to produce horses for racing. All British Thoroughbreds trace their lineage back to these world famous 鈥榝oundation stallions鈥�.

探花直播skeleton of a famous British racehorse called Polymelus was given to Cambridge鈥檚 Museum of Zoology in the 1930s and until recently stood sentinel in the museum entrance. Polymelus was the sire (father) of a string of leading racehorses foaled (born) between 1914 and 1921. His son Phalaris was a champion racehorse who went on to sire many winners. Among Polymelus鈥檚 other descendants are the racehorses Secretariat and Northern Dancer who also became legends in their time.

In a study carried out in 2012, tiny samples of DNA were taken from one of the teeth of the skeleton of Polymelus. They were analysed at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research as part of an inter-disciplinary project tracing the genes for speed and stamina found in modern thoroughbreds backwards in time to discover their origins. 探花直播DNA of 12 historic horse skeletons was screened, including that of Eclipse, the most famous of all.

探花直播work showed just how rapidly the genetic make-up of a breed can be shaped by humans and will help throw light on common health problems experienced by thoroughbreds. Interestingly, the speed gene which gives horses their sprinting ability was traced back to one of the British mares (including a Shetland pony) used at the early stages of the development of the British Thoroughbred line.聽

Next in the Cambridge Animal Alphabet: I is for a creature inside which investors, men of science and a notable sculptor dined in style on New Year's Eve 1853.

Inset images: Horses on the Parthenon frieze聽(Museum of Classical Archaeology); skeleton of Polymelus聽(Musuem of Zoology).

The聽Cambridge Animal Alphabet series聽celebrates Cambridge's connections with animals through literature, art, science and society. Here, H is for Horse 鈥撀�170-year-old model teeth, the Parthenon friezes, and the surprising origins of racehorses' speed.

In the Western Zhou period, the raising of horses is recorded as a task that is overseen by kings

Mim Bower

探花直播horses鈥� teeth

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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African Horse Sickness: mapping how a deadly disease might spread in the UK

amb206 — Sat, 25 May 2013 07:00:00 +0000

As its name suggests, African Horse Sickness (AHS) is associated with the continent of Africa, where it is feared as a deadly disease. It has long been assumed by British veterinarians and horse-owners that the disease, which is carried by midges, could not spread to cooler northern climates.

But researchers now think that its arrival in northern Europe could be only a matter of time 鈥� and perhaps more importantly, that it could spread if it did arrive.

A study undertaken by scientists at the 探花直播 of Cambridge Department of Veterinary Medicine, in collaboration with the Animal Health Trust and 探花直播Pirbright Institute, shows how dangerous it could be for the horse and pony population if AHS was introduced into the UK. 探花直播research also identified which regions would be worst hit at different times of the year.聽

This information could be vital to strategies for coping with an outbreak if it arrived. 探花直播study also emphasises the importance of the continued exclusion of the disease.

探花直播research was led by Dr Gianni Lo Iacono, a multidisciplinary scientist whose expertise lies in the mathematical modelling of a range of problems related to the interface between biology and physics. He worked with a team of colleagues from complementary fields including Professor James Wood, a renowned specialist in infectious diseases.

Most strikingly, East Anglia emerges from the study as the region that is most vulnerable to AHS spread which could occur if the disease was not identified early enough for action to be taken to contain it.

In Africa, the disease is spread by infected insects from species of midge known as Culicoides imicola, which carry the African Horse Sickness virus, an orbivirus of the family Reoviridae. Once a horse is infected by AHS, there is no treatment and no cure: the animal will have a high fever within 24 hours and most infected animals will be dead within 48 hours.

Other equidae, zebras and donkeys, are susceptible to AHS infection but do not have such severe disease. Infected zebras do not exhibit any apparent symptoms: as seemingly healthy animals they are potentially lethal carriers. Donkeys develop symptoms but can survive the disease.

First recorded references of AHS occurred in 1327 in Yemen, and in the mid-1600s following the introduction of horses to southern Africa. 探花直播disease was clearly identified by the British Army in South Africa 150 years ago when scores of cavalry horses perished in an epidemic.

Ever since, European horse owners have taken comfort from the fact that the disease could not strike in cooler countries. 探花直播British climate was considered too cold for the Culicoides imicola midges to survive. On top of this, the UK (and Europe more generally) has protective mechanisms in place that prohibit horses from Africa entering the country.

A growing number of veterinarians now believe that AHS can now arrive in the UK. Well-documented outbreaks were reported in Morocco (1965, 1989鈥�1991), Spain (1987, 1988,1990) and Portugal (1989). 探花直播British climate is warming and global transportation of perishable fresh goods 鈥� such as flowers and vegetables 鈥� offers a possible route for infected midges to enter the country.

探花直播prospect of AHS brings sharply into focus the need for greater research into ways of preventing an incursion of AHS 鈥� and ways to cope in the event of an outbreak. 鈥淥ur work demonstrates that there is no place for complacency about the ability of the virus to spread here,鈥� said Professor Wood.聽

A greater understanding of AHS requires a multi-stranded approach covering the behaviour and life cycle of the midge and the geographical distribution and movement of horses, plus possible routes for infection to enter the country. Midge numbers and activity are highest during the warmer summer months, when the arrival of infection from overseas would be most serious.

In the UK, all horses have passports as a legal requirement but these documents record the owners鈥� address rather than the location where their animals are kept. If horses were mapped according to their owners address, London, for example, would emerge as the centre with the densest horse population. Clearly most horses owned by Londoners are kept outside the city, many of them within easy driving distance of their owners鈥� homes.

Correcting this issue posed problems. However, satellite data on land usage and a survey which recorded the distribution of distances between horses and their owners in different land-use settings (people live closer to their horses in rural聽areas聽than they do in urban areas) allowed the researchers to produce a more meaningful map of the risk of the disease. This showed that East Anglia is particularly vulnerable to an outbreak: not only is the region warm and dry, but it also has distinct clusters of horses, notably around Newmarket.聽

探花直播team has also investigated another important aspect of the disease: the possible 'dilution effect' that could be achieved through keeping animals not susceptible to the virus, such as cattle and sheep, close to horses.

Dr Lo Iacono explained: 鈥淚n some communities in Africa people keep cattle or sheep near their houses in the belief that this will distract mosquitoes carrying malaria away from people. Some midges show apparent preference for cattle over sheep, so in South Africa deploying cattle to protect sheep from bluetongue (a similar disease to AHS in cattle and sheep) has been proposed as a way to control the disease. On the other hand, the presence of other species might well prove to be an added attraction for midges, exacerbating the threat to horses.鈥�

探花直播research re-emphasises the importance of veterinary education to allow early disease identification, which can reduce the critically important reaction times to allow optimal control.

探花直播tools that Dr Lo Iacono has developed have potential applications in mapping and responding to the spread of other diseases, some of which are ecologically even more complex 鈥� such as Rift Valley Fever, a mosquito-borne disease that affects both humans and animals, causing a serious disease and in some cases death.

探花直播research provides a good example of how theoretical models can identify biological knowledge gaps (identifying midge biting preferences). This is now being taken forward in other studies.

鈥榃here are the horses? With the sheep or cows? Uncertain host location, vector-feeding preferences and the risk of African horse sickness transmission in Great Britain鈥� by Giovanni Lo Iacono, Charlotte Robin, Richard Newton, Simon Gubbins, and James Wood is published by the Journal of the Royal Society, Interface聽 (2013) 20130194 doi:10 .1098/rsif.2013.0194聽聽

For more information on this story contact Alex Buxton, Office of Communications, 探花直播 of Cambridge amb206@admin.cam.ac.uk 01223 761673.

A disease lethal to horses, until now confined to hot countries, could arrive in the UK. New research creates a picture of its possible spread and pinpoints the area that would be worse hit.聽

Our work demonstrates that there is no place for complacency about the ability of the virus to spread here.

Professor James Wood

Mick Dolphin (Flickr Creative Commons)

Early morning, Newmarket

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Solved: two of the historic riddles of horse racing

amb206 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 08:15:24 +0000

A team of researchers examining DNA extracted from the skeletons of historic horses in order to throw light on the origin of diseases found in modern horses have, in the course of their work, solved some of the mysteries that have long puzzled the horse-racing world.

探花直播researchers' meticulous analysis answers the question of which of two horses actually won the Epsom Derby of 1880, revealing that the winner was running under the name of another horse. 聽探花直播same study has also led to the authentication of the 220-year-old skeleton of Eclipse, a legendary name in racing worldwide.

探花直播project 鈥� published in the current issue of the journal Archaeometry 鈥� involved not just laboratory work to analyse the DNA contained in bones, hair and blood of 300 living Thoroughbred horses but also an examination of historic archives held in Cambridge 探花直播 Library and close scrutiny of some of the most iconic paintings of horses.

探花直播research project was led jointly by Dr Mim Bower of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 探花直播 of Cambridge, who is an expert in the domestication of horses in pre-history, and a team from the Royal Veterinary College, including members of the Structure and Motion Group.

鈥� 探花直播purpose of the research was to develop tools that will help us understand the genetic history of the Thoroughbred horse 鈥� and, in particular, to discover when certain catastrophic genetic diseases might have entered the gene pool,鈥� said Dr Bower. 鈥淜nowledge of the history of these diseases will help us in improving the health of living racehorses.鈥�

探花直播Epsom Derby, to be run today, is one of the great classics of British racing. In the race of June 1880, a horse named Bend Or crossed the finishing line a whisker ahead of his rival, Robert the Devil. Celebrations turned sour when the owners of Robert the Devil claimed that Bend Or was running under the wrong name and was in fact a horse called Tadcaster.聽 They argued that the two had been confused as yearlings - and that Robert the Devil was therefore the bona fide winner.

Bend Or and Tadcaster came from the Duke of Westminster鈥檚 Eaton Stud in Cheshire. With the same sire but out of two different dams, the three-year-olds looked strikingly similar 鈥� though the dam of the horse running in the Derby as Bend Or came from a lineage that had never won a race and the dam of the horse known as Tadcaster came from a winning line.

At a stewards鈥� inquiry the owners of the two horses 鈥� who had long been arch enemies - argued their cases. 探花直播inquiry found for the owners of Bend Or who went on to stand at stud and, on the basis of his Derby win, made the Duke of Westminster a small fortune. In a twist worthy of a Dick Francis thriller, one of the stud grooms who had handled the two horses as youngsters was reported to have confessed on his deathbed that the two animals had been confused 鈥� but he had been dismissed by the Duke of Westminster so his word was doubted.

Samples of DNA taken from the skeleton of Bend Or, which is archived in the Natural History Museum, were shown to match that of the living relatives of Tadcaster, proving almost without doubt that the horse running under the name Bend Or in the Derby of 1880 was indeed Tadcaster.

探花直播same team of researchers have also looked at the DNA of Eclipse, a chestnut stallion named after the solar eclipse of 1 April 1764, during which he was foaled. Bred by the Duke of Cumberland (known as the Butcher of Culloden), he easily won all 18 of the races in which he was entered, inspiring the phrase 鈥淓clipse first, the rest nowhere鈥�. He was immortalised by George Stubbs who painted several portraits of him, the most famous of which hangs in the Jockey Club鈥檚 Newmarket offices.

Once retired from racing, Eclipse became a phenomenal success at stud, siring more than 300 winners. Some 95 per cent of modern Thoroughbreds have him in their ancestry. 鈥淗is descendants include Desert Orchid, Shergar, Red Rum, Pharlap and Northern Dancer to name just a few,鈥� said Dr Bower.

探花直播racing world was keen to discover the secret of Eclipse鈥檚 awesome speed and on his death in 1789 an autopsy took place. Performed by a French veterinary surgeon called Vial de Saint Bel and thought to have been the first-ever formally-documented animal autopsy in the UK, the procedure revealed that Eclipse had a massive heart 鈥� at least 25 per cent larger than average.聽 His large heart, combined with a physique that gave his paces tremendous scope, is thought to be the reason for his outstanding speed on the racecourse.

During the autopsy detailed drawings were made of Eclipse鈥檚 physiology and measurements of his bones were noted. These records are held by Cambridge 探花直播 Library together with early volumes of private and national studbooks (including the General Stud Book) going back to the 17^th century. Vial鈥檚 autopsy led to the foundation of the London Veterinary College (now 探花直播Royal Veterinary College) and Vial became the first Principal of the College on 8 April 1791.

Dr Bower said: 鈥� 探花直播records of this early autopsy represent a vital historical resource for pedigree research which we use to trace the spread of desirable or undesirable genetic traits, for example. Today, the identity and parentage of every Thoroughbred horse is verified by genetic typing. In the past, records relied on the accuracy of recording at each of the Thoroughbred foundation studs.

鈥淗owever, our research has shown that early Stud Book records are considerably more accurate than previously thought, and that errors, where they exist, are as a result of a lack of understanding of the precise biological modes of inheritance in the past. For example, fraternal sisters being recorded as part of the same maternal lineage, despite sharing a father rather than a mother.鈥�

Eclipse鈥檚 skeleton was put on display as a curiosity and later transported up and down Britain, packed into boxes and reassembled at different destinations. It was eventually acquired by the Royal Veterinary College, where it is now on display in its resource centre, known as the Eclipse Building.

It has always been thought that the skeleton of Eclipse, if authentic at all, was likely to have been a composite of bones from different horses including some from the famous stallion himself 鈥� and it did seem highly possible that over the years the bones had been confused. Rumour had it that the head, in particular, came from a different horse. 探花直播existence of five 鈥淓clipse鈥� hooves added to scepticism about the skeleton.

Now evidence from meticulous ancient DNA analysis, and cross referencing scientific findings with contemporary sources, indicate that the majority of the skeleton (including the head) is authentic. 探花直播authentication of the bones involved several strands of research which were undertaken in the laboratories of the McDonald Institute in Cambridge and the Royal Veterinary College in London.

鈥淲e matched the mitochondrial DNA taken from Eclipse鈥檚 skeleton with DNA taken from his direct female descendants, traced by referencing their lineage from the records contained in the volumes of the Stud Book, early historic studbooks and Bobinsky鈥檚 Thoroughbred breed tables, held in Cambridge 探花直播 Library,鈥� said Dr Bower.

鈥淲e also matched the coat colour genes with the colours in Stubbs鈥檚 paintings. We looked at the stable isotopes across different elements of the Eclipse skeleton and matched high precision measurements of the skeleton with those taken at the time of the autopsy in 1789. 探花直播comparison of measurements was a real puzzle because the inch 鈥� which in England was based on three barley grains lying end to end - was not formally standardised until 1959.鈥�

探花直播research that led to these discoveries has implications both for archaeo-geneticists and for veterinarians. It is thought that humans first domesticated wild horses at least 7,000 years ago. Ever since, horses have played a central role not just in everyday lives but also in the human imagination with the ultimate horse being the fine-tuned athlete of the racetrack.

鈥淎rchaeological finds such as chariot burials suggest that horses were selected for specific traits, such as speed and colour, and that humans were making sophisticated active choices about which animals, and therefore which desirable traits, they chose to proliferate,鈥� said Dr Bower.

In the early days racing took place over long distances, typically four miles, with horses being tested for stamina as well as speed.聽 Races were head to head with just two horses being run against each other, in multiple heats. 探花直播end of the 19th century saw the number of runners being increased and race distances being dramatically shortened. Short bursts of intense speed put a strain on a horse鈥檚 body with some horses beginning their racing careers at the age of two.

鈥淭horoughbred horses are elite athletes capable of impressive performances 鈥� but they are also prone to debilitating conditions such as bone fracture and tendon injury and exercise induced pulmonary haemorrhage, many of which are thought to have a genetic basis. Our study of elite horses from the past will help us trace the spread of genetic disorders into the present 鈥� and it鈥檚 also been fascinating to have some historic puzzles along the way,鈥� said Dr Bower.

聽

探花直播identity of the winner of the 1880 Epsom Derby 鈥� the classic race to be run today - was famously disputed. Now analysis of DNA from the bones of historic horses has solved the mystery conclusively - and has confirmed the authenticity of the skeleton of one of the most famous stallions of all time.

探花直播purpose of the research was to develop tools that will help us understand the genetic history of the Thoroughbred horse and discover when certain genetic diseases entered the gene pool.

Dr Mim Bower

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探花直播Flying Dutchman and Voltigeur by John F Herring Sr. (1795 - 1865)

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Mystery of the domestication of the horse solved

gm349 — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:00:57 +0000

New research indicates that domestic horses originated in the steppes of modern-day Ukraine, southwest Russia and west Kazakhstan, mixing with local wild stocks as they spread throughout Europe and Asia. 探花直播research was published yesterday, 07 May, in the journal PNAS.

For several decades scientists puzzled over the origin of domesticated horses. Based on archaeological evidence, it had long been thought that horse domestication originated in the western part of the Eurasian Steppe (Ukraine, southwest Russia and west Kazakhstan); however, a single origin in a geographically restricted area appeared at odds with the large number of female lineages in the domestic horse gene pool, commonly thought to reflect multiple domestication 鈥渆vents鈥� across a wide geographic area.

In order to solve the perplexing history of the domestic horse, scientists from the 探花直播 of Cambridge used a genetic database of more than 300 horses sampled from across the Eurasian Steppe to run a number of different modelling scenarios.

Their research shows that the extinct wild ancestor of domestic horses, Equus ferus, expanded out of East Asia approximately 160,000 years ago.聽 They were also able to demonstrate that Equus ferus was domesticated in the western Eurasian Steppe, and that herds were repeatedly restocked with wild horses as they spread across Eurasia.

Dr Vera Warmuth, from the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Zoology, said: 鈥淥ur research clearly shows that the original founder population of domestic horses was established in the western Eurasian Steppe, an area where the earliest archaeological evidence for domesticated horses has been found. 探花直播spread of horse domestication differed from that of many other domestic animal species, in that spreading herds were augmented with local wild horses on an unprecedented scale. If these restocking events involved mainly wild mares, we can explain the large number of female lineages in the domestic horse gene pool without having to invoke multiple domestication origins.鈥�

探花直播researchers provide the first genetic evidence for a geographically restricted domestication origin in the Eurasian Steppe, as suggested by archaeology, and show that the tremendous female diversity is the result of later introductions of local wild mares into domestic herds, thus reconciling evidence which had previously given rise to conflicting scenarios.

探花直播research was funded by the BBSRC, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and the Leverhulme Trust.

Research reconciles competing theories about the origin of the domestic horse.

Our research clearly shows that the original founder population of domestic horses was established in the western Eurasian Steppe, an area where the earliest archaeological evidence for domesticated horses has been found.

Dr Vera Warmuth, from the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Zoology

漏探花直播Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Abraham Pietersz. van Calraet Landscape with Figures and Horses

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Speed and stamina: a tale of two genes

amb206 — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:45:45 +0000

A project bringing together researchers from six different institutions indicates that a particular variation of the gene group called myostatin, which is partly responsible for the impressive speed of the world鈥檚 highest-performing thoroughbred racehorses, has been present in the lineage of some thoroughbred horses for at least three centuries and may have come from one particular mare

探花直播findings, published today in the online journal Nature Communications, emerged from a study of the DNA of hundreds of living horses 鈥� including thoroughbreds and many of the world鈥檚 native breeds 鈥� as well as ancient DNA extracted from the skeletons of elite historic horses, among them the legendary Eclipse, one of the most famous horses of all time.

探花直播research was led by Dr Emmeline Hill, a genomics scientist at 探花直播 College Dublin (UCD) and Dr Mim Bower, an archaeo-geneticist at the 探花直播 of Cambridge. 探花直播other institutions contributing to the study were Equinome Ltd, the Swedish 探花直播 of Agricultural Sciences, the Smurfit Institute of Genetics, and the Russian Academy of Sciences.

探花直播study shines new light on the interplay between speed and stamina in thoroughbreds, and how the two have been manipulated by humans through many generations of selective breeding. It will intrigue horse-lovers round the world as the single mare thought to have been responsible for introducing the speed gene may have been a British native horse. Many native breeds are now extinct but they shared their genetic make-up with some of the hardy pony types that have survived until today, such as the Dartmoor and Shetland.

Dr Bower鈥檚 work at Cambridge's McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research focuses on the relationship between humans and other animals 鈥� and how they have shaped each other. In the wild, horses need both speed and stamina to outrun their predators. Horses were domesticated around 7,000 years ago 鈥� and racing may have followed soon after. In the fiercely-competitive environment of the racetrack, success is determined by a combination of both speed and stamina in proportions varying according to the distances raced.

At the turn of the 18^th century a group of wealthy English landowners famously imported three stallions from the Middle East 鈥� the Darley Arabian, Godolphin Arabian and Byerley Turk 鈥� which were crossed with a total of 74 predominantly British and some imported mares. All thoroughbreds are descended from these foundation horses 鈥� and ever since details of their lineages have been carefully recorded, most notably in the General Stud Book, thus creating an extraordinarily valuable resource for today鈥檚 researchers.

For more than 300 years, breeders and trainers have striven to produce horses with the perfect combination of speed and stamina. Performance on the track is a matter of environment, management and training as well as breeding. However, it has long been accepted that there are underlying genetic factors that influence a horse鈥檚 capabilities as an athlete. Breeders have always used their intimate knowledge of winning lines to produce successful horses. Sophisticated DNA analysis techniques now allow scientists to look at the genetic make-up of both living and historic horses.

In 2010 Dr Hill and colleagues at UCD showed that a variant of myostatin 鈥� a gene group that usually inhibits muscle differentiation and growth 鈥� was partly responsible for elite race performance in thoroughbred horses. These findings led Dr Hill to team up with Dr Bower and others to launch a follow-up study exploring the origins of this genetic component in the ancestry of the modern thoroughbred, going right back to the foundation stages of the breed in the late 17^th century.

探花直播researchers traced the gene variant backwards in time by screening the myostatin genes of hundreds of living horses, including some of the current stars of the racing world, and the skeletons of 12 historic thoroughbred horses held in archives round the country. Their results strongly suggest that the speed variant of myostatin entered the thoroughbred gene pool only once, around 300 years ago, and is likely to have come from a British native mare 鈥� perhaps one of the strong and stocky breeds of mountain and moorland ponies that thrived in the tough setting of Northern England and Scotland.

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Speed and stamina are associated with two different variations of the myostatin gene complex: the C:T variant (known as C-gene) for speed and the T:T variant (known as T-gene) for stamina. In the early days of horse racing, contestants raced head-to-head over long distances 鈥� up to four miles 鈥� with the winner determined by a series of two-horse heats. Outstanding stamina was vital to a winner. Many elite horses 鈥� including Eclipse - have been shown to have two copies of the T-gene.聽 Breeders progressively selected for stamina over distance and thus, unwittingly, maintained high levels of the T-gene in the thoroughbred population.

From the mid-19^th century onwards, races became shorter with a greater number of runners and, at the same time, the racing industry began staging races for very young horses, with thoroughbreds increasingly starting their careers as two-year-olds.聽探花直播combination of young horses running over short distances favours animals which mature early in terms of musculature and develop the capacity to sprint in intensive high-speed bursts.

As the ideal speed/stamina balance shifted, breeders began selecting for sprinting ability, thus favouring the rarer C-gene over the more commonly found T-gene. 探花直播researchers have been able to pin the recent spread of the C-gene to Nearctic, a horse foaled (born) in Canada in the mid-1950s. Nearctic鈥檚 phenomenal record on the racetrack made him a sought-after stallion. Among others, he sired (fathered) Northern Dancer, another legendary winner, who once retired went on to sire (father) many other high-performing horses, thus rapidly disseminating the C-gene among elite horses all over the world.

Once the researchers knew they were looking for the origin of the C-gene rather than the T-gene that appears in all of the historic elite stallions they studied, they knew without a doubt that they needed to look at the female line.

As Dr Bower explains: 鈥淥ur findings point to a British mare 鈥� one of the mares crossed with the three foundation stallions or their early descendants 鈥� being the most likely source of the original C-gene for speed because one of the lines of evidence from the research demonstrates that the prize-winning foundation stallions of the 17^th and 18^th centuries had two copies of the T-type speed gene which is linked to stamina rather than one copy of the C-type and one copy of the T-type associated with speed.鈥�

To identify more precisely where the C-type gene variant originated, the researchers analysed DNA samples from more than 20 horse breeds, that included representatives of local British and Irish horses, from which female Thoroughbred lineages derive, as well as exotic eastern populations from which male Thoroughbred lineages derive. They also looked at DNA from close relatives to horses, for example donkeys and zebras, to find out whether the C-gene existed in these equid species or was unique to horses. Zebras were of particular interest since they indicated which variant of the speed gene was present in wild equids, something that is impossible to study in horses since the wild ancestors of our domestic horses, including thoroughbreds, are long extinct.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 fascinating is that the study revealed that the Shetland breed 鈥� the sturdy little pony immortalised by the Thelwell cartoons 鈥� has the highest frequency of the C-type gene variant among the horses whose DNA we screened.聽探花直播Shetland represents just one of many local British horse types, which, according to historical sources, were highly prized for their racing ability before the Thoroughbred line was formally established. We鈥檙e not suggesting that Shetlands were speedy in themselves but rather that their genes have made a key contribution to the thoroughbred line,鈥� said Dr Bower.

鈥淏y comparing the diversity of chromosomes around the C and T type variants of the myostatin gene in horses, we found only a single C-type compared with 11 different T-type gene variants, meaning that the speed gene entered the Thoroughbred line just once. This is remarkable because it illustrates the genetic consequences of selection in action. Thanks to the science of genomics we can see the C-gene enter the Thoroughbred gene pool, and then, with the help of historic pedigree records and ancient DNA, we can watch its spread through the thoroughbred gene pool in 300 years of breeding.鈥�

Since prehistory humans and other animals have been shaping each other and the environment. Dr Bower added: 鈥� 探花直播most recent project shows how quickly human selection can affect a population of animals. In less than 300 years, a new and extremely rare version of an essential gene becomes frequent in a group of horses that are closely managed by human social and cultural choices. We will never know the precise identity of the mare which introduced the C-type variant but the project has shown us that the British native breeds which formed the backbone of the thoroughbred line, and which have been so under-valued historically, were, in important ways, responsible for the outstanding racing ability that has made the thoroughbred so famous.鈥�

探花直播research was supported by grants from 探花直播Horserace Betting Levy Board, Leverhulme Trust, Cambridge Overseas Trust and Science Foundation Ireland.

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Research by a team of scientists suggests that a variant of the so-called speed gene found in top racehorses can be traced back to a single British mare living around 300 years ago. That mare may have had a similar genetic make-up to today's sturdy native ponies.

What鈥檚 fascinating is that the study revealed that the Shetland breed 鈥� the sturdy little pony immortalised by the Thelwell cartoons 鈥� has the highest frequency of the C-type gene variant among the horses whose DNA we screened.

Dr Mim Bower

Trevor Jones, Thoroughbred Photography

Parish Hall on right (a champion with Northern Dancer ancestry on both sides) wins the Group 1 Dubai Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket in October 2011 for Jim Bolger

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'Extreme Sleepover #12鈥� 鈥� an equestrian adventure on the Mongolian steppes

bjb42 — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 09:00:10 +0000

I had not been this cold in ages. My deel, a traditional Mongolian garment not unlike a silky patterned bathrobe, had protected me from being burnt by the sun earlier, but it felt flimsy against the night air. Lying on my saddle-pads for insulation with my head resting against a hard wooden saddle, I contemplated the journey that had brought me to this volcanic crater in South-Eastern of Mongolia, on the border with China.

There was something about Shilin Bogd, the mountain rising above the crater where we slept, that had intrigued me. Shilin Bogd is a holy mountain where men can replenish their inner khiimor or 'wind-horses'. This trip was a chance to show my appreciation for the opportunities Mongolia had given me while exploring a concept central to my research on horse-dog-human relations in rural Mongolia. In Cambridge I had saved up my student loan and squeezed in Mongolian lessons between lectures. Now it was exhilarating to have a diary full of interview notes and a camera full of photos.

Ganbat, my host and guide, and I had ridden 70km over five hours that morning, stopping only for tea and water. According to Ganbat, I was learning to ride like a shilin sain er or good shilin man. In the past these men were highly regarded for their feats of endurance, rustling horses over vast distances. Praised for their toughness, they were 'good' in the sense that they acquired their horses from afar, never stealing locally. They epitomise the ideal Mongolian man, putting his animals' health before his own and with great knowledge of the steppe environment.

I had been looking at how Eastern Mongolians were bringing in new breeding horses. Long distance horse racing has boomed in Mongolia in the last few decades and the lush grazing in the East is renowned for producing the fastest horses. Today, introducing new breeding lines means importing horses of Arab and thoroughbred descent from Russia. I want to find out how this fresh wave of cross-breeding articulates with Mongolian notions of nationalism and purity. I am also looking at how Mongolians experience their relationships with horses and dogs, through cross-species concepts like khiimor, originally a Buddhist notion that is locally associated with luck, spirit and willpower. Just as there are rituals for men to replenish their khiimor, so there are rituals to raise the spirits of a 'depressed' horse.

Rising before dawn to climb Shilin Bogd to see the sunrise, I felt revived despite my lack of sleep. There were other visitors on the mountain, tossing their offerings of rice, vodka and sweeties onto the huge ovoo (cairn) at the top, as the light flooded the sea of grass below us. 探花直播horses were also perky, having spent the night grazing. They were travelling on full bellies; but like true shilin sain er we were not, a swig of vodka from a fellow pilgrim, a handful of cereal from my saddlebags and we were off.

That night on the steppe taught me to appreciate the shelter afforded by the Mongolian ger (yurt). Ganbat and his wife, Olziisaikhan, share their tiny summer ger with six sons and yet managed to accommodate and feed guests. Later, my translator helped me check with Ganbat that I鈥檇 grasped everything he had told me and that I鈥檇 understood elaborate concepts that were way beyond my rudimentary Mongolian. As I savoured a large bowl of noodles with mutton and steppe herbs, I felt one step closer to understanding how Mongolians relate to their animals and their landscape. I was putting into practice the anthropological theory I'd been learning in Cambridge in between long hours learning to herd and immersing myself in horse-talk.

My trip gave me a sense of how the landscape still encompasses the Mongolians and their animals. They regard the natural environment as something to work with and within: a kind of reciprocal relationship. As Mongolia enters a financial 'golden era' on the back of huge transnational mining investment, this perspective of humans as part of the landscape, rather than dominating it, poses some urgent and challenging questions 鈥� and not just for Mongolia.

Robin Irvine

Robin is in his final year as an undergraduate studying anthropology at Corpus Christi College. Before he came to Cambridge he spent several years working with Clydesdale and Shire horses at Cumbrian Heavy Horses in the Lake District. His fieldwork in Mongolia was supported by the Worshipful Company of Cutlers and the Corpus Christi College Long Vacation Travel Grant.

In the latest report of the Extreme Sleepover series, undergraduate Robin Irvine explains how a fascination for the relationships between humans, horses and dogs took him to the Mongolian steppes.

Long distance horse racing has boomed in Mongolia in the last few decades and the lush grazing in the East is renowned for producing the fastest horses.

Robin Irvine

Robin Irvine at the shrine on top of Shilin Bogd

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