• Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    arrow-down
    12
    ·
    2 months ago

    Broken clock moment, they’re not native and they make it harder for native species to survive, there shouldn’t be any wild horses in the Americas, they’re literally just feral domesticated animals that we do nothing about because people think they’re beautiful or whatever other stupid justification. This is a good thing.

    • piccolo@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      there shouldn’t be any wild horses in the Americas

      Horses quite literally evolved in the americas migrated to asia and went extinct in americas ~10,000 years ago.

      • Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        2 months ago

        Idk how you managed to type the words “and went extinct in americas ~10,000 years ago” without having a single fucking thought about them, genuinely impressive

          • Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            4
            ·
            2 months ago

            Horses went extinct naturally in the Americas thousands of years before the arrival of European colonists, after which their previous ecosystems continued adapting to life without them, then we introduced distantly related domesticated animals to those ecosystems, causing harm to the native species that now have to compete with them. They don’t belong here in the wild, it’s our fault that they are, fixing that would be a good thing.

            • piccolo@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              7
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              2 months ago

              There are pretty strong theories that over hunting caused the extinction of many mega fauana at the end of the last ice age. Though obviously, the climate change caused disruptions that would allowed our ancestors to push many species over the edge.

              And sure, modern domestic horses would be different than their wild ancestors, as they would have been less adapted to their new environment, and that can pose problems for the horses themselves. But 10,000 years is hardly time for ecosystems to adapted without them, in fact, eco systems are dying because we have killed off all the large herbivores. Have a video to explain things far better than i can

              • Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                3
                ·
                2 months ago

                There are native north american large herbivores we can work on repopulating, horses aren’t one of them. 10,000 is plenty of time for an ecosystem to change in response to the absence of a large species.

                • piccolo@sh.itjust.works
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  5
                  ·
                  2 months ago

                  Other than Bisons, there isnt any other large native species that thrive in the environment horses do.

                  • Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    2
                    arrow-down
                    3
                    ·
                    2 months ago

                    Depends on your definition of large, still enough of a reason not to allow a feral population of domesticated horses to continue existing. We don’t need horses in the wild here, they don’t belong here and make life harder for species that do, it’s not complicated.