Prehistoric Climate Change and Horses: A Regional View

Scientists learned that horses in present-day Switzerland survived the last Ice Age and thrived for a while afterward.
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Prehistoric Climate Change and Horses: A Regional View
Swiss scientists recently set out to learn how local horse populations changed. | Photo: iStock
Global research on prehistoric wild horses since the last Ice Age gives us a good overview of what occurred during this period. Worldwide scientists tell us horses dwarfed and even disappeared from most of their original sites—modern day Asia and North America.

That’s the global view. But what happened, exactly, on a regional level?

Swiss scientists recently set out to learn how local horse populations changed. Specifically, they looked at their own region—a world utterly devoid of any free-ranging horses for the last several millennia. And this new, local look, they say, gives a whole new view into how horses dealt with the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), a period of extreme cold and aridness (water was bound in huge glaciers) during the most recent Ice Age.

“In contrast to the development in the heartland of wild horse distribution (the Eurasian steppe region), where horse populations declined after the LGM, they were expanding in the region of present-day Switzerland,” said Julia Elsner, PhD, of the University of Basel’s Integrative Prehistory and Archaeological Science department

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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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