An early Iron Age mule from Catalonia pushes hybrid equid breeding in Europe back centuries. Its bones reveal trade networks, local innovation, and a rapidly changing Mediterranean world. #Archaeology #HumanEvolution #IronAge #Equids https://www.anthropology.net/p/a-hybrid-hoofprint-how-an-early-iron

New open access chapter:
Working #Equids in #Disasters
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-00313-3_4
 
In "The Palgrave Handbook of Human-Animal Interactions in the Global Context of Climate Change, Disasters, and Other Crises" Edited by H. Wu, K. Breen, S.E. DeYoung, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-00313-3
 
#DisastersAreNotNatural #NoNaturalDisasters (avoid the phrases #NaturalDisaster #NaturalDisasters) #DRR #DisasterRiskReduction #DisasterRisk #RiskReduction #DisasterRiskManagement #disaster #AnimalsDisasters #DisastersAnimals

Just-published #PhotoEssay:
"Working #equids supporting women's #DisasterRiskManagement"
https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-04-2025-431
 
A collaboration between Brooke - Action for Working #Horses and #Donkeys and University College London.
 
Previous #DisasterResearch photo essays:
1. https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2024.2395798
2. https://doi.org/10.24564/0002019687 (scroll down for the PDF).
3. https://doi.org/10.47818/DRArch.2023.v4si106
 
#DRR #DisasterRiskReduction #GenderDisaster #DisasterGender #Mules #WorkingAnimals #AnimalsDisasters #DisastersAnimals

"Researching equids and disaster risk management"
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/researching-equids-disaster-risk-management-the-brooke-u4ahe
With @Brooke and @gemma
 
#DRR #DisasterRiskReduction #DisasterRisk #RiskReduction #DisasterRiskManagement #Equids #Horses #Donkeys #Mules #Animals #AnimalsInDisasters

Wild #donkeys and #horses engineer water holes that help other species https://www.sciencenews.org/article/wild-donkeys-horses-ecosystem-engineer-water-holes-invasive-species

#Equids engineer #desert water availability https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abd6775

They documented 57 vertebrate species, from migratory #birds to #MountainLions, slurping at the wells, which is about equal to the number of species seen at streams and 64 percent higher than dry spots... The water is quite cool, and cleaner than other sources.

I'm so glad this paper is finally out!
#Equids from the #Pleistocene and #Holocene from southern Iberia (Andalucia, Spain)

Equids (Equus sp.) in southern Spain from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jqs.3580

#openaccess #horse #zooarchaeology

Made some new friends today #Horse #Mule #Equids who come when I call them unlike some cats I know (alt text: video of a horse is grazing in a barbed wire fence field of fallow grass with a clear sunny sky, and she comes to the filmer and accepts pets and head rubs)

Ancestors of Modern Horses Had Hooved Toes Instead of Single Hoof
Modern equids such as horses, asses, and zebras, have only a single toe, the left over original third toe on each foot, encased in a thick-walled keratinous hoof, with an underlying triangular frog on the sole that acts as a shock absorber. In new research, paleontologists analyzed hoof prints and foot bones from modern horses and fossil records to discover what happened to the lost digits.
https://www.sci.news/paleontology/modern-horse-toes-12022.html #horses #equids #toes #hooves

#Horses are maybe the most studied #fossil #mammals (I did 1/3 of my dissertation on them!). They've been central to understanding #evolution for as long as #evolutionary #biology has existed, so it was thrilling to see #zebras, the most widespread wild #equids, upon arriving in #Zambia!

Because it's always #Wedsneigh around here, I'm posting this pic from last Wednesday, a few hours before 50 mph winds made this sedate longe impossible.
#Horses #HorsesOfMastodon #Equids #EquidsAroundUs
#TopaTopaMountains #VenturaCounty #Ojai

‘zebra stripes thwart horsefly attacks’ news now… “any hoofed animal that reduces its overall dark outline against the sky will benefit” #DazzleCamouflage #Zebras #Equids #Horseflies #ExperimentalBiology https://apple.news/A-R3-n0VFR3alqLgJKMRj-g