Horses and rhinoceroses are odd-toed: in fact, horses have only 1 toe on each foot, but scientists figured out that thousands of years ago, horses had 5 toes inside each hoof! How many toes does a horse have on each foot? one toeClues came from a 35-million-year-old horse called Mesohippus. Read more…
Odysseus’s first cousin, Sinon, was the only one left behind; and for a reason: he was supposed to signal them the appropriate moment for their return. Which Greek was left behind with the Trojan horse? SinonThe Greeks, pretending to desert the war, sailed to the nearby island of Tenedos, leaving Read more…
Horses have been used in warfare since ancient times up until the present day. They were used in many roles, from combat mounts to pack animals, and across many cultures and civilisations. Are horses still useful in combat? Horses are still seen in use by organized armed fighters in developing Read more…
The silk-for-horse trade was one of the most important and long-lasting exchanges on the Silk Road. Chinese merchants and officials traded bolts of silk for well-bred horses from the Mongolian steppes and Tibetan plateau. Why did they trade silk on the Silk Road? Because a caravan’s carrying capacity was limited, Read more…
How horses—whose ancestors were dog-sized animals with three or four toes—ended up with a single hoof has long been a matter of debate among scientists. Now, a new study suggests that as horses became larger, one big toe provided more resistance to bone stress than many smaller toes. Do horses Read more…
Conquering the Aztecs These native tribes viewed horses as mystical, powerful, and even spiritual beasts. The novelty of these creatures was not only awe-inspiring, but also quite fear-provoking. What did the Aztecs call horses? stagsAll I could find were Aztec accounts which simply called the Spanish soldiers “soldiers” and their Read more…
Horses were one of the first things traded in the Columbian exchange. They were used for a variety of reasons and really affected life in the Americas. Horses allowed Native Americans to travel to find food and other supplies. Horses also helped strengthen military power. Where did horses go to Read more…
It’s normal in dogs. In popular terms, it’s called “the zoomies.” In technical parlance, it’s Frenetic Random Activity Periods, or FRAP for short. It’s more common in puppies and young dogs, but even our old pals can get a case of the zoomies if the mood strikes. Why does my Read more…
Eohippus – The Dawn Horse About 55 million years ago, a small predecessor of the horse family known as the hyracotherium or eohippus lived in the forests of North America. Are there any predecessors of horses? During the early Eocene there appeared the first ancestral horse, a hoofed, browsing mammal Read more…
Scientific interpretations conclude the seal is equally related to the horse and whale. How long have horses existed? 55 million years agoThe earliest known horses evolved 55 million years ago and for much of this time, multiple horse species lived at the same time, often side by side, as seen Read more…