Roles and Behavior

Question 1

What roles did/do horses play? (10)

Answer 1

1. Sport
2. Breeding
3. Recreation/pleasure
4. Racing
5. Working
6. Meat production
7. Pregnant Mare Urine Industry
8. Therapy
9. Entertainment
10. Feral

Question 2

What are some sports in which horses are used? (7)

Answer 2

1. Dressage and Para-dressage
2. Driving
3. Endurance
4. Eventing
5. Jumper
6. Reining
7. Vaulting

Question 3

What is the maximum height for a pony?

Answer 3

14.2 hands

Question 4

What is the average life expectancy in wild and in captivity?

Answer 4

Wild: 20
Captivity: 25-30

Question 5

What type of reproductive cycle do horses have?

Answer 5

seasonally polyestrus

- Mate and foal in late spring and midsummer when daylight is long.

Question 6

What are the characteristics of a Northern horse breed?

Answer 6

• Cold bloods, trotters and drafts
• Heavier built, deep bodies, short stocky legs, small ears, large heads, thick coats, less reactive temperaments
• -> Adaptions for energy conservation and survival in cold climate

Question 7

What are the characteristics of a Southern horse breed?

Answer 7

• Hot bloods, gallopers
• Gracile with long slender legs, fine coats, small heads and large ears
• Fast, highly reactive and enduring
• Adapted to aid in heat dissipation?

Question 8

What are some Northern horse breeds?

Answer 8

Shetland pony, Haflinger, Clydesdale

Question 9

What are some Southern horse breeds?

Answer 9

Persian, Arabian, Thoroughbred

Question 10

What are Warmbloods?

Answer 10

Horses that are a mixture of hot and cold bloods

Question 11

What enviroments do horses usually live in?

Answer 11

Plains or mountains but can adapt to a range of environments

Question 12

Do horses defend their home ranges? How do they move around in the ranges they stay on?

Answer 12

Horses do not defend their home ranges which contain central core use areas within which they undertake predictable seasonal movements.

Question 13

What kind of grazers are they and what can they also feed on?

Answer 13

preferential grazer bu can feed on forbs, sedges, shrubs and trees.

Question 14

Do diets change seasonally?

Answer 14

yes

Question 15

How many hours a day can a feral horse spend eating?

Answer 15

up to 16 hours (60-70%)

Question 16

What is the defecation behavior of captive horses?

Answer 16

separate latrine and grazing areas

Question 17

What is the defecation behavior of Free-Ranging horses?

Answer 17

Defecate indiscriminately (except for marking behavior of stallions)

Question 18

What are the two major types of social organizations of horses?

Answer 18

1. Domestic donkey, Grevy’s zebra, African and Asian wild asses
2. Domestic horse, Prezewalski horse, Burchell’s zebra and Mountain zebra

Question 19

What are the behaviors of Domestic donkeys, Grevy’s zebras, African and Asian wild asses?

Answer 19

• Territorial males
• Adults do not form lasting bonds
• Females range over territory of several males and will accept matings
• Sub-adult males disperse to join/form roaming bachelor groups
• sub-adult females range over several territories
• Adaption to predictable but marginal semi-desert conditions?

Question 20

What are the behaviors of Domestic horses, Prezewalski horses, Burchell’s zebra and Mountain zebra?

Answer 20

=Stable, long lasting non-territorial family bands
- sub-adult males leave to join/form bachelor groups
- Sub-adult females join/form new harems
= adaption to unpredictable environmental conditions with changing but constant food supply
–> prompt migration?

Question 21

Define a band of horses.

Answer 21

Group with stable adult membership and their pre-dispersal offspring

Question 22

How big can a band be?

Answer 22

2-20 members

Question 23

What kind of members make up a band of horses?

Answer 23

• 1-several unrelated adult mares

- 1-a few stallions and immature offspring (foals and 1-3 year olds)

Question 24

When might bands group together?

Answer 24

in winter when risks of predation increase

Question 25

Why might multi-stallion bands have a negative effect on mares?

Answer 25

• greater parasite load
• poorer body condition
• reduced fecundity
  All due to harassment by stallions

Question 26

What are multi-stallion bands the result of?

Answer 26

strong selection for stable, long-term stallion-mare relationships

• artifact of this selection that occasionally results in more than one such relationship forming.
• Mares solicit more than one stallion.

Question 27

What kind of bonds do adult horses tend to form?

Answer 27

Dyadic social bonds

• spatial proximity and reciprocal positive interaction such as allogrooming
• Stable linear dominance hierarchies formed with occasional reversals and triangles

Question 28

Can dominance relationships be changed once established?

Answer 28

no, usually maintained

Question 29

What does dominance provide?

Answer 29

priority access to food and breeding(stallions)

Question 30

What is social behavior important for?

Answer 30

minimizing conflict and maintaining stable groups

Question 31

What is an example of horses complex communication system?

Answer 31

ritualized behavior between stallions

Question 32

Are serious injuries due to aggression rare?

Answer 32

yes

Question 33

What are the most common aggressive interactions?

Answer 33

lower intensity displacements -> threats to bite -> threats to kick (highest)

Question 34

What is rank associated with?

Answer 34

age, longevity in band, body weight

Question 35

What type of horse participate in the most and least number of aggressive interactions?

Answer 35

most: stallions
Least: foals

Question 36

What is the rank of a foal correlated with?

Answer 36

the rank of the mother

Question 37

How is the foal-mother bond formed?

Answer 37

Prior to and after birth mare separates from group and forms bond with foal alone.

Question 38

When do foals start interacting with other foals?

Answer 38

2-3 weeks

Question 39

When does weaning occur?

Answer 39

before birth of next foal (~7 months) but foal-mother relationship is still close

Question 40

What is critical for the social development of foals?

Answer 40

social interactions with others

Question 41

When do young foals leave their natal bands?

Answer 41

2-3 years (at sexual maturity)

Question 42

What do males do after leaving their natal band?

Answer 42

• form bachelor groups or be solidary

Question 43

What is characteristic of a bachelor band?

Answer 43

• home ranges of bachelor males overlap entirely
• do not form stable associations
• acquire females at 5-6 years old

Question 44

What is characteristic of a young mare leaving a band?

Answer 44

• 1-2 years old
• disperse non-randomly
• -> join harems with 1 stallion and at least 2 sub-adult mares
• -> prefer familiar females

Question 45

What may be the cause of the sub adult dispersal?

Answer 45

keep inbreeding low and no costs to leaving

Question 46

What is an ethogram?

Answer 46

a formal description of a species behavioral repertoire

- may list all behaviors or particular functional classes

Question 47

What is considered maintenance behavior?

Answer 47

• grooming, comfort, standing alert, elimination

Question 48

What is considered social behavior?

Answer 48

• harem social, herding, harem tending, reproduction, sun basking or cuddling

Question 49

What is considered reproductive behavior?

Answer 49

reproductive tending, vocalization, and flehmen response, rubbing head/chin rest on flanks of mare and extending penis from prepuce, copulation

Question 50

What is the mares reproductive sequence?

Answer 50

• Presents facing away from stallion, lifting tail, vocalizing.
• posturing her body with hind legs apart and turning head posteriorly
• frequently emits small stream of urine (often concurrent w/ rhythmic winking of vulva)
• Urine emitted from female horse in estrous consists of specific variations of urinary volatile compounds that may facilitate chemical communication during reproductive behavior.

Question 51

What are some agonistic behaviors?

Answer 51

• threat, threat(neck arched), bump or push, chasing, kicking and biting, circling, rearing (male only), stomping and striking, boxing and dancing

Question 52

What is play behavior?

Answer 52

• modified forms of serious survival activities
• can be distinguished from serious intent
• solitary or social

Question 53

What adaptive functions does playing serve in horses?

Answer 53

• muskuloskeletal and cardiovascular fitness
• practicing and honing specific survival skills
• gaining familiarity with an environment
• building social relationships
• building communication skills

Question 54

What are some forms of play behavior?

Answer 54

• object play, locomotor play, play sexual behavior, play fighting, object play - circling, pawing, pulling, resting rear, kick ups

Question 55

What are some forms of locomotor play?

Answer 55

frolicing, leaping, bucking, prancing

Question 56

What is play fighting?

Answer 56

similar to serious adult fighting behavior but with more of a sporting character

Question 57

What has initiation of play behavior been seen to follow?

Answer 57

head threat tossing motion

Question 58

What are some forms of play fighting?

Answer 58

• head/neck/chest nip and bite, neck grasp, neck wrestle, fore leg nip/bite/grasp, rump nip or bite, push, stamp, rear, hind quarter threat, kick

Question 59

What are some evasive behaviors?

Answer 59

• evasive balk, jump or spin

Question 60

What is play sexual behavior?

Answer 60

elements of pre-copulatory and copulatory behavior sequences may be out of order or exaggerated from the adult breeders.
- common in foals, young adolescents of both sexes and among young and bachelor stallions

Question 61

What is tease?

Answer 61

horse sniffs and or nuzzles head, shoulder, abdomen, flank, inguinal, tail or genital areas of another horse, but usually more playful than mature adult.