Paleontology – horses on the medicine trail

In the late Pleistocene 50,000 to 19,000 years ago, horses pulled back and forth between Eurasia and North America. This shows a new study that combines indigenous knowledge with modern DNA and isotope analysis. The animals not only survived changed environmental conditions, but also influenced the ecosystems.

The horse was created in North America about four million years ago. When the sea level rose and land bridges between the continents, herds also came to Eurasia. This was followed by intercontinental hikes of horse populations in both directions that continued to the latest ice age, according to the “Science” journal published Study an international team of 57 researchers including 18 indigenous scientists and traditional knowledge carriers of the North American peoples Lakota, Blackfoot, SQilx’w and Dene ‘.

The researchers analyzed the DNA of 67 fossils of primeval horses from Beringia, Siberia and the North American continent and compared the data with all known parentage lines. The study shows a greater genetic variety of horses in the late Pleistocene than today as well as long, mutual transcontinental horse hikes between Alaska and Siberia.

“Life has to move to survive.”

Joe American Horse Lacota chief

According to the study mitar Wilson Justin, a oldest and traditional knowledge carrier of Dene ‘, this horse corridor, who combined the American continent with the Eurasian continent for over tens of thousands of years, was known to the indigenous as a “medicine trail”. He stretched from Mongolia in East Asia across North America to the Maya area in today’s Mexico.

“In this study we used indigenous knowledge and Western scientific methods to examine the effects of climate change on horses,” the researchers write. “We found that late Pleistocene horses from Alaska and the northern Yukon are related to populations from Eurasia and the Bering country bridge crossed several times during the last ice age. We also discovered very divergent lines of descent north and south of the American ice shields, which influenced the populations in Beringia and to Eurasia genetically. «

The behavior of the horses, their ecological role as well as their adaptability and capacity to overcome major distances have significantly shaped the worldviews and knowledge of many indigenous peoples worldwide. “We understand the horses as a key animal species that, together with the other forms of life with which it is related, ensures the balance in the ecosystem,” says Harold Left Heron, traditional knowledge carrier of the Lakota who worked on the study.

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With the help of traditional knowledge and isotope analyzes, the study also shows that the hikes of horse populations also moved from one habitat to another. So the hoofs followed predators of all kinds and size.

The horse’s digestive system and its daily pasture and grazing behavior ensure that seeds, enclosed in dung, are eliminated, excreted and quickly germinate on the floor after the hit. The wandering horses thus bring plant species from one region to the other and also fertilize the floors. Horse apples also attract certain types of insect, which in turn follow their predators. If the horse disappears from an area, this process stops.

“Life has to move to survive,” said Lakota chief Joe American Horse. “We carried out this study together with our allies of other indigenous peoples in order to show the world the importance of hikes for the preservation of life.”