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Like Humans, Dominant Horses Usually Found In Group’s Center

It's been recognized for decades that wild horse herds have a distinct hierarchy, typically with one dominant stallion that fathers all the offspring and one dominant mare that leads the herd to grazing ground. However, new research shows that there is actually a multilevel social structure to feral herds.

Drs. Tamao Maeda, Sakiho Ochi, Monamie Ringhofer, Sebastian Sosa, Cédric Sueur, Satoshi Hirata and Shinya Yamamoto used a drone to study 200 feral horses that lived in Serra D'Arga, Portugal. The study team took aerial images of the horses at 30-minute interval from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. for 30 days. They were able to identify more than 100 of the horses from the air using ground observation to determined color, markings and body shape.

The team then studied the patterns of interactions between the horses in the images to better understand their social structure. They concluded that there are multiple smaller social “units” within the larger herd. Each unit is comprised of two types of social groups: a harem of one or two adult males and several females and immature individuals; or an all-male unit of bachelors that could not attract any females.

The team discovered that these units all operate together to form a herd. In the herd the team studied, large mixed-sex units were typically at the center of the group of horses, with smaller mixed-sex and all-male units on the periphery. Their findings are consistent with the hierarchical strata of other social animals in which the more-dominant animals often occupy the center of the group, pushing subordinates to the periphery.

Read the full report here.

Sad Circumstance Allows Researchers To Study How Feral Horses Perceive Death

Researchers in Portugal who witnessed the decline and death of a foal in a feral herd were given a unique opportunity to see how wild horses reacted to the situation. Drs. Renata Mendonça, Monamie Ringhofer, Pandora Pinto, Sota Inoue and Satoshi Hirata watched the foal, who had been injured in a presumed wolf attack, for six hours; they noted his behavior as well as that of his dam and other herd members in the vicinity. Every two minutes, they recorded things like the distance between the horses and the injured foal; every five minutes they recorded horses moving, resting, eating and interacting with others.

The herd walked during the first several hours and the foal moved when prompted by his dam. He eventually went down and could not rise. His dam stayed near him and nuzzled him occasionally. After 15 minutes, the herd left the mare and foal behind. The stallion returned and attempted to move the mare from the foal, and succeeded on the seventh try. The dam whinnied to the foal 10 times and the foal responded once.

A second group of horses arrived and stood within 20 yards of the foal for 40 minutes. Though all members of the group were interested in the foal, two mares remained interested after the others had left to graze. These mares licked and sniffed the foal for several minutes, while the foal's dam watched from a distance.

During this interaction, the dam whinnied for the foal 44 times, but the stallion prevented her from returning to her foal. The foal responded only once after the other mares had left.

The dam returned to the foal once and fought with bachelor stallions who were interested in her. She left the foal to join the herd that was about 200 yards away. The foal stood and called for her one time after she left, then fell and died within an hour.

The research team notes that the mare moving away even though her foal was alive makes sense from an evolutionary context; it ensured her own survival, which allows her to reproduce again and benefit the species. The scientists were surprised by the reaction of the other two mares toward the foal. Traditionally, horses are antagonistic toward foals that are note their own; that the two mares were not could mean that they perceived something different about the foal.

Though there is still much to learn about how horses perceive death, the research team advises that owners and managers take equine emotions and reactions into account when dealing with the death of a domesticated herd mate.

Helicopter Roundups Of Mustangs Safer Than Roundups Of Other Wild Species

Though the use of helicopters to gather feral mustangs has been controversial for years, a recent study has shown that these type of roundups are relatively safe for roaming horses in the Western United States, reports The Horse.

Dr. John Derek Scasta of the University of Wyoming reviewed 10 years of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) data and determined that the number of animal deaths (both naturally and those that were euthanized) related to the helicopter roundups were similar to bait-trapping, which is another method used to gather wild horses. He noted that either bait-trapping or the use of helicopters resulted in a significantly lower death rates than those found in roundups of other wild animal species.

To arrive at this conclusion, Scasta reviewed 70 captures from 2010 to 2019 that involved nearly 29,000 horses and more than 2,000 burros in nine Western states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming. Of these captures, 36 used helicopters to gather the animals and 34 used bait-trapping. In bait-trapping, horses enter a wide enclosure that contains feed or water, with no humans present. In helicopter-driven gathers, a helicopter flies above and behind the herd, pushing horses into an enclosure.

In total, 96 horses and four burros died or were euthanized during or after the bait-trap gathers; 268 horses died during or after the helicopter gathers, The Horse reports. The mortality rate was 1.7 percent for bait-trap gathers and 1 percent for helicopter gathers. The majority of the deaths related to the wild horse and burro roundups are related to pre-existing or chronic conditions, such as poorly healed injuries, lameness or blindness.

The numbers are far fewer than the deaths that occur on similar roundups of elk, deer and caribou, which have reported mortality rates of up to 20 percent. The animals are generally gathered for scientific research projects. Typically, anything over a 2 percent death rate is considered unacceptable in the scientific community.

Preliminary Proof: Drones An Inexpensive, Safer Alternative For Herding Feral Horses

Feral horses that roam over extensive areas of land can be difficult to corral when necessary for management purposes, like for contraceptive treatment. Pushing the animals into a corral with a helicopter is a common way to contain them, but this method is stressful and potentially harmful to the horses; it's also expensive.

Drs. Sue McDonnell and Catherine Torcivia of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine New Bolton Center investigated if free-roaming horses would follow a drone into a corral. They based their hypothesis on the concept that a horse's natural instinct is to become alert to novel objects and intruders, and to respond as a herd to level of arousal elicited.

To test their theory, the duo used a consumer-grade drone and the university's herd of 123 semi-feral ponies. They discovered that the drone was able to lead the horses into corrals on the first attempt and again on seven of nine additional attempts over the next month.

The drone led the horses to the same and different destinations. The horses tended to follow at a fast walk, with some slow trotting intervals interspersed. In each case, a stallion or multiple stallions first alerted the herd to the drone. The males then vocalized their concern and initiated the herd's following of the drone's retreat.

The scientists found that the drone was most effective when flying between 6 and 20 feet above the ground and leading the herd at a distance of about 30 feet. Next, the duo will test the drone on a herd of feral horses in a larger enclosure. If successful, they will conclude that drone use may provide a lower-cost, lower-stress, repeatable option for capturing feral horses, and improve both human and equine safety.

Read the full project report here.