SUNDAY, AUGUST 15, 2010
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from The Mini Page © 2010 Universal Uclick Wild Around theWorld
Color in states where feral horses are found. • Arizona • California • Colorado • Georgia • Idaho • Maryland • Montana • Nevada • New Mexico • North Carolina • North Dakota • South Dakota • Oregon • Utah • Virginia • Wyoming
Horsing around the USA Most of the feral horses in theWest
are found in Nevada. These are the horses we call mustangs. In the East, Chincoteague ponies
live on Assateague Island off the coast of Virginia and Maryland. Banker horses live on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Because these horses are surrounded by salt water, they’ll sometimes dig holes to reach fresh water for drinking.
from The Mini Page © 2010 Universal Uclick
Ready Resources The Mini Page provides ideas for websites,
books or other resources that will help you learn more about this week’s topics.
On the Web: •
www.blm.gov •
www.nwf.org/Kids/Ranger-Rick/Animals/Mammals/ Wild-Ponies.aspx
At the library: • “Face to Face With Wild Horses” by Yva Momatiuk and
John Eastcott • “The Horse: Faster Than the Wind” by Valerie Tracqui
TM
Looking out for horses Some of the feral horse herds
are privately owned, such as the Chincoteague ponies. Others are protected by the National Park Service or state government agencies where they live.
Wild burros Burros live mostly separate from
the horse herds. Arizona has the largest population of feral burros.
Today, only about 300 of these special horses live in the wild. They are considered critically endangered. However, wildlife refuges and zoos around the world continue to house and breed the Przewalski horse.
from The Mini Page © 2010 Universal Uclick Wild Horses TRY ’N FIND
Words that remind us of wild horses are hidden in the block below. Some words are hidden backward or diagonally, and some letters are used twice. See if you can find: ADOPT, AMERICA, BURRO, DOMESTICATED, EQUUS, EXTINCT, FERAL, GATHER, HEALTHY, HERD, HORSE, HYRACOTHERIUM, MANAGE, MUSTANG, PONY, PRZEWALSKI, SPIRIT, SYMBOL, WILD, ZOOS.
EVER RIDDEN A HORSE?
HAVE YOU
DE T A C I T S E M O D J V L SO O Z W I E Q U G A U T K M YN O P R G U S H C A C OH N MH N I A U T F I E N R G E R B H P N S A ER D I RJ AA E OS A Q N R E L T U HD T L S LM F G A M I X B V O S H T R IK SL A W E
Z R P D K E H O R X M U I R EH TO C ARY H
Hyracotherium, the first horse, became extinct about 45 million years ago.
Other types of horses evolved with
changing predators and climate. The ancestor of the horses we know, Equus (EHK-wuhs), lived on our continent about 5 million years ago.
The only ‘wild’ horse
Although we use the word “wild” to describe feral horses, there is really only one wild horse left in the world. The Przewalski (shuh-VAL-skee)
horse in east-central Asia has never been domesticated. In fact, this species almost became extinct in the 1960s. Zoos and wildlife sanctuaries around the world, including the San Diego Zoo, have worked together to keep breeding the Przewalski horse.
© 2010 Universal Uclick Symbols of American Spirit Have you ever ridden or petted a
horse? The friendly, helpful animals we use to pull wagons and march in parades are called domesticated horses. Along with their cousins, feral (FAIR-uhl) horses, they have a long history in the Americas. This week, The Mini Page talked
with experts to learn more about wild horses.
The first horses Millions of years ago, a small four-
legged animal called Hyracotherium (HY-rak-ah-THEER-ee-um) lived in North America. It grew only about 8 inches high, and it had four toes on its front feet, each with its own hoof.
Thank the Spaniards Experts think Equus may have
moved to Asia and Europe by crossing a land bridge in the Bering Strait*. For a long while, there were no horses at all in North America. Just about 500 years ago, Spanish explorers brought horses back to the Americas. These horses had been domesticated, but some escaped and began to live in the wild. They were the ancestors of today’s feral horses.
*The Bering Strait is a small sea passage between Alaska and Russia. Archaeologists believe the two continents were connected before the last Ice Age.
August 15, 2010 from The Mini Page © 2010 Universal Uclick These Horses Are Wild!
This newborn foal and a yearling foal stay close to their Nokota mother. They live in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.
The “wild” horses found in the western states are really feral horses. People sometimes use either word to mean the same type of horse. They’re also called mustangs.
Horse talk
Meanings of some “horsey” words Feral—describes animals (or
their ancestors) that were once domesticated, or tame, but are now wild
Mustang—from the Spanish
word mesteno, which means feral Stallion—a full-grown male horse Mare—a full-grown female horse Filly—a young female horse Colt—a young male horse Foal—any young horse Burro—a donkey
photo courtesy The Wilds Wildlife Preserve
photo by S. Nystrom, courtesy National Park Service
Basset Brown The News Hound’s
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