History & Dna of the aldberta wild horses research project

Welcome to wild horse advocates research study on the history and dna of the Alberta wild horses

Let's start with a common question. Are they feral..or wild..?

Well when we simply look at the history of North america, wild horses originated here, now we know and understand very well that the original equids were not identical to the modern wild horss, but they do have the closest dna to the original wild horses we once had on this continent.

What we do know, with certainty, is that these wild horses we see today have been on the land here for at least 400-500 years. We believe longer than that, but again we are sticking to facts, sticking to truth, and sticking to transparency so we will tell you the facts, and also tell you if we believe differently, and why.

Now for the sake of sticking with facts or what we can find as “facts” is that wild horses have been here for about 400 years at least. So a once native species goes extinct and an almost genetically identical version shows up, that now gets the label feral. So lets talk about some other examples in canada where a native species has gone “extinct” and a later decendant returns filling thay gap. Or where non native species have somehow landed native species rights.

Grizzly bears- did you know grizzly bears were never native to canada? Did you know these bears crossed into canada from eurasia, by what was called the Bering land bridge a strip connecting Eurasia and north america allowing the passage of many animals and many species which now live and thrive in Canada's ecosystem. Although they have been here for thousands of years, there was a point in which they did not belong on this land, and have now recieved rights and privilege to the land, to the extent parks are closed to avoid human bear interactions which would risk euthanized the bear.

Wolves- wolves too found their way to canada through the bering land bridge, now a prevalent piece of canada culture. Although, this was not their original land but they have managed to become a needed and valued piece of the alberta ecosystem and food chain.

Bison- next lets have a look at bison, which we feel may be the best case similar to that of the wild horse, in the sense if we can give these bison protected rights, surely we can for the wild horses too, now let us explain. The original bison in canada looked a lot different than the bison we know and love today.

The original bison was Bison priscus and Bison Antiquus. These bison were different from our modern bison in many ways, though, somehow bison reintroduction programs are all over alberta, with bison that are genetically different than what was originally here, but they are the closest viable genetic match to fill the place where the original once was. Now lets look at the plains bison. A species of bison being reintroduced around Banff and joining parks and areas, if you are out around sundre or Yaha, you will be will familiarized with the signs warning you of the bison reintroduction program. So we have decided it is better to have a genetically similar decendant to fill the gap, then leave this gap in the ecosystem left open.

Now lets get back to wild horses and why this matters. Many today argue the fact that these wild horses we see today are not the same as the original wild horse. True. Factual. We can not argue that, they are not the original horse we once had here. However, can we not agree that they are the closest and nearest genetic match to what was once originally here? Just as the plains bison is now filling the gap for where the bison antiquus once stood, should we not allow the wild horses to fill the gap that needs filling.

Now lets look at this logically. The Equus species originated in north america. These equus species traveled across the bering land bridge filling eurasia and other continents. They then “ went extinct” in north america, and we are then told the horses that are from eurasia are not the native horses that were once here. Hmm.

So they originated here, left, and when being brought back they were told they are not a native species.because its been a while? Were they gone too long? How long is too long for a native soecies to loose its rights?

Now lets look at their names in and of themselves. The original horse, the “dawn horse” Eohippus was native to north america through the Eohippus we got many versions of what we call equids or equus today. Equus lambei, equus Scotti, and equus Caballus.

First lets talk about equus lambei. This horse recieved its origin in the yukon. If you look on a map, really not that far from Alberta and doable for any horse on a long migration. This wild horse did have its origin in canada. A native species to canada and very similar in nature to the modern wild horse deemed “the last true wild horse” Przewalski's horse (disclaimer, some new studies suggest this Przewalski's horse does not have wild ties, use your own judgement and discernment on this). So we have a native wild horse in canada not with an old ancient name Eohippus, but with our commonly used today word “equus" (Although some reports say they are trying to change this name to one similar to that of the Eohippus so we will see in the future what name this horse gets labeled with).

Now lets take a look at equus scotti: here we have yet another wild horse native to north america. Allegedly concidered one of the last horses before the “extinction” the equus scotti was a larger species of horse when compared to its close relative the equus lambei. And the equus scotti too traveled across the bering land bridge into eurasia and spreading across other continents.

if these breeds used the bering land bridge to leave north america, making what are now modern day horses, why would they not still be concidered the same species? Just another later descendant.

Now lets look at the equus caballus. This is all modern day horses, wild or domestic this is the soecies of horse we have today.

Here is a quick at home project, if you do a quick Google search and look up where the equus callabus originated from? Get the answer, come back and meet me on the next paragraph!

……so the equus callabus originated from north america. Hmm. I thought the modern day horses were not the same? How could they originate here if we wont acceptthem as a native species? Just a few questions we have found along our way, and we would love to hear your opinion too.

So, they went from the eohippus to equus lambei, and equus scotti, then to equus caballus, the same species all still….wild horses. From the same ancestors just a few thousand years later.

Same way we had the bison priscus, the bison antiquus the bison bison, and the plains bison, all still…..bison.

So regardless of how long they have been here we believe they belong here, they fill the native soecies gap that north america needs and was founded on, and they are the closest genetic ancestor to what we once had here.

Now we can go into all the facts and research regarding the stories, fossils and indigenous oral histories alleging that wild horses never went extinct after equus scotti, and they have always been here, but due to this taking so much extensive research into this topic our indigenous oral histories page will be on our blog so we can go a little further in depth and cover every angle story and article regarding the matter.

For now we will go over a few of the main summaries for these topics,

first and for most, some dna studies on the alberta wild horses have shown genetic links to the “Indian pony” this is the direft terminology that the dna study states, however what we can say is that the dna study is referring to the lac la Croix indigenous pony when they state “ Indian pony” and another common term is “ojibwe spirit horse” this horse is also stated to have direct links all the way back to the equus scotti. Meaning that yes, the alberta wild horses do show dna signs of having at least partial original native breed links. On top of their already apparent ancestral genetic links between the equus caballus to the equus scotti and equus lambei but now we have a possible direct link straight to the original source. So how can this not justify a native or wild status?

From what public studies show, some of the dna markers found in the alberta wild horses are the following; Canadian horse, Indian pony (ojibwe spirit horse or lac la Croix pony) mixed draft breeds, Spanish Iberian and Andalusian. So regardless of what breed they are they are still all equus caballus. Direct ancestors of the native north American wid horse equus lambei and scotti. And a breed dna link tracing back to the lack la Croix, who appear to trace back to the equus scotti. Its a big chain of wild horses. Equus. Let's let the decendant of our wild horse fill the gap that its ancestor once filled.

If you want to look more into the lack la Croix pony, its history, indigenous oral traditions and histories on wild horses, or fuether history and dna studies please join us over on our blog

Thank you- see you on our next research study- Wild Horse Advocates