This allows the horse to see nearly 360 degrees, except the areas directly in front of them and directly behind them. Horses have monocular vision, which means that each eye is independent from the other. One characteristic of prey animals is that their eyes are on the sides of their faces so that they can have a wider field of vision to spot a predator. A lot of things we naturally do can be counter-productive when it comes to working horses.ĭid you know that horses’ minds and bodies are constructed in a way that aids them in their survival as prey animals? While horses are prey animals, humans are classified as predators, and as such, we approach life in a very different manner than the horse. So, when we lead or ride a horse up to or past something it has not seen before, the horse can become wary and nervous. If flight is not possible, the horse may resort to the fight response by charging or kicking. With flight, the horse may try to run through or over a fence or person to escape. When we trap a horse we can trigger its flight or fight response. In the wild, a predator would like to have the horse in a situation where it could not escape. Flight will always be the first instinct of these animals. You might have heard of the term “fight or flight." A horse’s first instinct is to get out or dodge the moment he encounters anything remotely scary. It’s all about survival for the horse, and their instincts are no exception. What is dangerous to a horse? Almost everything! Their wellbeing relies on their perception that everything that moves or is new could eat them. Horses understand that their safety relies on their ability to put distance between themselves and something they perceive as dangerous. An understanding of the horse’s vision will give us a clearer picture of its world and help us to remain safer.įirst, we need to realize that the horse evolved as a prey animal and its first response to anything scary is to flight. Examples of common predators include lions, bears, and foxes.Įquine vision plays a role in how the horse reacts to events. Predators are animals that hunt, or prey, on other animals. Examples of prey animals include horses, goats, and rabbits. Horses are ‘naturally’ afraid of humans because humans are predators.īut what is the difference between a prey animal and a predator and how are both able to connect with each other?Īnimals that are eaten or hunted are called prey. It’s a grazing creature that, in the wild, has always lived in herds on grasslands. We talked about whether or not it is important for certain animals to live and we discussed if there are ways to stop unnecessarily taking lives.The horse is a prey species. We need to be careful about how humans affect other animals. There isn't much of a way to stop how low a certain animal's population gets in nature. Fishing also affects whales and dolphins who accidentally get caught in fishing nets. Between sport fishing and the need for electricity from our dams, many fish are killed and their populations become very low. Humans catch fish on their trips to the spawning grounds. If the fish can't get over the dams, they can't return to their spawning grounds where they were born, and they die before they lay their eggs. Without food and shelter, the animals may die.ĭams on the rivers can cause problems for fish returning to spawn. For example, the amount of certain types of animals decrease by forest fires destroying their homes. Other factors affect the balance of nature as well. As another example, if too many fish are caught or otherwise killed, there won't be enough left to lay eggs and have babies and they, too, may become extinct. For example, the deer, which can be prey to other animals and even humans, may face extinction because too many people hunt for deer for sport, food, and their skins for clothing. Our class talked about how the balance of nature controls both predator and prey populations. Without enough food, the predator's population may also die and both animals could become extinct. However, if one type of animal eats most of its natural prey, the prey's population goes down too far and recovering its population through natural reproduction may become a big problem. When nature is in balance the populations of the animals are controlled. The balance of nature is how animals depend on each other for food.
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