Scientists See Spots on Prehistoric Horses

Using the LP allele for reference, researchers determined some prehistoric horses had spots like Appaloosas.
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According to a group of international genome researchers, one population of prehistoric Eurasian horses were either black, bay, or leopard-spotted bay and white. And given their Ice Age climate, those rock-and-snow-looking coats might have been ancient horses’ best camouflage.

Consistent with 25,000-year-old cave drawings, genetic sampling of ancient horse bones confirm that horses carried genes for black, bay, or leopard-spotted coats, said Arne Ludwig, PhD, of the Leibniz-Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research and the Research Group for Evolutionary Genetics, in Berlin, Germany.

By examining the DNA of 31 horses that lived between 15,000 and 20,000 years ago in modern-day Siberia and Europe, Ludwig found six of the sampled horses had spotted coats (18 were bay and seven were black). Ludwig said this marks the first time horse fossils have been tested for the leopard spotting gene–known by scientists as the "LP allele," which North American researchers identified in 2010.

These prehistoric Appaloosa-like horses could have had a considerable evolutionary advantage in the snowy, rocky steppes where they lived, Ludwig said. But that’s only true if they were "heterozygotes," the term the researchers used to describe horses that possessed the kind of LP allele mutation that causes visible colored spots on a white background. The other kind of LP allele mutation, referred to as "homozygote" by the team, causes a white background without any colored spots

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Passionate about horses and science from the time she was riding her first Shetland Pony in Texas, Christa Lesté-Lasserre writes about scientific research that contributes to a better understanding of all equids. After undergrad studies in science, journalism, and literature, she received a master’s degree in creative writing. Now based in France, she aims to present the most fascinating aspect of equine science: the story it creates. Follow Lesté-Lasserre on Twitter @christalestelas.

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