Scientists Ludek Batros and colleagues in the Czech Republic Institute of Animal Science have studied reproductive behavior in female horses (mares). In particular, they studied mares aborting their foals when they have been taken away from home to mate with a new stallion, and then returning back home to their original herd with a familiar stallion. The article says, "When mares return home after mating with a foreign stallion, their either engage in promiscuous mating with the home males to confuse paternity, or, failing that, the mares abort the foal to avoid the likely future infanticide by the dominant home male." The study, which was conducted through a questionnaire to horse owners in the Czech Republic, discovered that "Mares mated with a foreign stallion aborted in 31 percent of cases while none of the mares mated within the home stable aborted."
After looking at the data gathered, it was determined that in a herd of horses if the dominant male horse is not the father of the new foal, he may "attempt infanticide." The mares sense this and if kept in separate enclosures, "they are seven times more likely to abort the fetus, to prevent the waste of energy in producing offspring likely to be lost." The study concluded that "the regular practice of transporting the mare for mating or artificial insemination with a foreign stallion, and then bringing her back to an environment with home males, is probably one of the main causes of such high percentages of pregnancy disruption in domestic horses." Although this is an interesting find, it might not affect American horses as much as those in the Czech Republic. Horses in the United States are generally kept at boarding stables or on private property with very few, if any, stallions. Artificial insemination is the most common method of breeding, and the mares keep those foals because they do not have access to "home males" that would cause them to abort the foal. Stallions are hard to keep and most owners in the United States choose to have their males gelded. So when they are looking to breed their horse, most Americans do not have a "home male" (stallion) on hand.
No comments:
Post a Comment