Re: Equids
Phillip Bigelow (n8010095@henson.cc.wwu.edu)
Tue, 13 Dec 1994 00:42:12 GMT
whittet@shore.net (whittet) writes:
>If the North American equus c., reputedly able to maintain itself
>in one form or another in the Americas for 60 million years,
well, not quite: there is strong evidence for an extinction event in
North America circa 10,000 ybp.
>was a wild horse, something like the modern mustang, and the
>spanish horses introduced as their replacement were rather a
>different breed, would it be possible that rather than extinction
>we just have something more like ethnocentrism, wherein the Spanish
>claim all the horses are theirs, and nobody cares to dispute the issue
>with them?
The wild mustangs that are present in the mountains of southcentral
Montana and in the mountains of New Mexico, are nearly identical in
appearence to domesticated horses found in Spain today, and to Spanish
horses present in Europe prior to 1492.
Further, native Americans are quoted in many exploration journals of the
time (archives of the Cortez expedition; found in the archives of Seville in
Spain, and probably other journals) as describing the Spanish on their
mounts as "two-headed creatures". There are other similar quotes attributed
to the plains native Americans when they saw mounted Europeans. It is clear
that the native Americans had _no_ familiarity with Equus prior to 1492.
I wouldn't be surprized if someone has even done PCR DNA testing to confirm
the Spanish link with North American mustangs. Anyone know?
<pb>
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