#Zebra horse race movie full

#Zebra horse race movie full

Horses were initially kept as a food animal, but their full potential as a means of transport, communication and warfare resulted in them being of increasing importance in the development of human civilisation. Recent research also shows the domestic herds were repeatedly restocked with wild horses as they spread across Eurasia. The wild ancestor of today’s domestic horses (Equus ferus) was first domesticated in the western Eurasian Steppe, an area where the earliest archaeological evidence for domesticated horses was found. A combination of climatic change, forestation and human predation pushed the animals eastwards to the semi-deserts of central Asia.

The North American equids (members of the horse family) disappeared about 8-10,000 years ago, and in Europe and Asia, Palaeolithic man extensively hunted the herds of wild horses on the open plains. Although horses, assess and zebra all evolved from a common ancestor ( Hyracotherium) which lived in Europe and North America around 55m years ago, divergence meant that the zebra and donkey are more closely related to each other than either is to the horse. The manes and tails of zebra are in fact more similar to those of asses (donkeys) and reflect the evolutionary history of the genus Equus. The 2005 movie, Racing Stripes, was the story of a young zebra who wanted to compete in horse races – although the filmmakers were forced to use a horse stand-in for some scenes (the tail gives it away). So how did the zebra avoid the load bearing, farm working, fence jumping fate of its cousins? And which animal ended up with the better deal?īecause of their obvious similarity to horses – and for novelty value – attempts have been made by humans to ride and race zebra. Yet underlying differences in behaviour have meant that while horses and donkeys have been successfully domesticated, the zebra remains predominantly wild. In many ways, zebra appear very like horses (or ponies, given their size).