Ancient horses' spotted history reflected in cave art (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Jennifer Carpenter
Science reporter, BBC News

Scientists have found evidence that leopard-spotted horses roamed Europe 25,000 years ago alongside humans.

Until now, studies had only recovered the DNA of black and brown coloured coats from fossil specimens.

New genetic evidence suggests "dappled" horses depicted in European cave art were inspired by real life, and are less symbolic than previously thought.

The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Horses, which were the most abundant large mammal roaming Eurasian 25,000 years ago, were a key component of early European diets.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15619885

[Rhiannon12866]

1. K&R. Very interesting discovery...

I'm picturing Appaloosa, like this, but they no doubt looked quite different. :)