Did The Silk Roads Help Shape Equine Genetics?

The Silk Roads paved the way for the lucrative Chinese silk trade, but they also opened the door to extensive intercultural and educational exchanges, and, as researchers recently confirmed, horse trading and breeding.
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Modern horse breeds are the product of some phenomenal mixes of horses from various regions across the globe. Geneticists know this interregional mixing occurred many centuries ago, but how do genes from a horse in Western Europe during the Biblical era become blended with horses residing in Eastern Asia?

Simple answer: The Silk Roads.

“The Silk Roads had been shown to have influenced the genetic structure of humans in eastern Eurasia, so I was curious about how far the Silk Roads played a role in horse movement as well,” said Vera Warmuth, PhD, researcher in the department of zoology at the University of Cambridge in the U.K.

The “Silk Roads” were a 4,000-mile series of connecting trade routes linking the Mediterranean Sea to southeast China starting in about 200 BC. They paved the way for the lucrative Chinese silk trade, but they also opened the door to extensive intercultural and educational exchanges. And, Warmuth said, they opened the door to horse trading

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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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