Hello everyone,
I have a question about the taxon Equus caballus (domestic horse) in iNaturalist. I understand that there are many breeds and also historically recognized subspecies of domestic horses, but in the app I don’t see them listed as subcategories or subspecies under domestic horse.
Could someone explain why these subspecies are not included?
Is there any possibility that they could be added to iNaturalist’s taxonomy?
I think it would be very interesting, as it could greatly enrich observations related to domestic horses.
Thanks in advance!
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Asunto: ¿Por qué no se incluyen subespecies de caballos en iNaturalist?
Hola a todos,
tengo una duda con respecto al taxón Equus caballus (caballo doméstico) en iNaturalist. Entiendo que existen muchas razas y también subespecies históricas o reconocidas en caballos domésticos, pero en la aplicación no veo que estén incluidas como subcategorías o subespecies dentro del caballo doméstico.
¿Podrían explicarme por qué no aparecen estas subespecies?
¿Existe la posibilidad de que puedan incluirse en la taxonomía de iNaturalist?
Creo que sería algo muy interesante, ya que enriquecería mucho las observaciones relacionadas con caballos domésticos.
¡Gracias de antemano!
I am definitively no expert for horses.
But I see there observations for instance related to Equus ferus przewalskii in Mongolia, so your observation is not 100% correct.
Most likely, the issue is more about the question of what is a genuine wilde horse, what was a breed and what was domesticated but released to the wild centuries ago.
That question may to a certain extent also apply to other species domesticated since long. I remember that decades ago many people questioned the existance of truely wild genuine populations of Felis silvestris because of speculated interbreeding with Felis catus domestic cat.
Only genetic analyses could later show that they actually interbreed rather rarely and that in our region, the wild Felis silvestris is still significantly present.
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iNaturalist is primarily for wild organisms, so human-created breeds of horses (or any other species) aren’t appropriate for this site. If there are subspecies of horses that are scientifically recognized but not on iNaturalist, you can add a flag to the horse taxon page and ask the curators to add those subspecies.
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Breeds are not a taxonomic divisions so they are not included on iNat; the same is true for dog and cat breeds.
There are only two extant (sub)species of horse:
Domestic Horse (including all domestic horse breeds), is sometimes considered a subspecies, Equus ferus caballus, but on iNat is given full species status Equus caballus.
And Przewalski’s Wild Horse, Equus ferus przewalskii.
iNat also recognizes the recently extinct Tarpan, Equus ferus ferus.
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Breeds are human-created forms of an animal species, in essentially the same way that cultivars are artificially bred forms of plant species. The number of human-bred cultivars of crops and garden plants is in the millions. Orchids alone have been bred in hundreds of thousands of cultivated forms. Roses and dahlias similarly number in the tens of thousands. There’s close to ten thousand cultivars of apple, and even more of grapes. Taxonomists are not generally interested in these vast numbers of artificial forms, so the majority are unregistered and unrecognised, since only horticultural and agricultural organisations keep track of them, if at all.
INaturalist is about the wild natural environment; it is not an appropriate place for tracking where Madame Hardy roses or Granny Smith apples are grown, because in any case cultivars almost exclusively exist in cultivation. The only situation in which it can be appropriate is when cultivated plants become naturalised in the wild, which the vast majority of cultivars never do.
The situation is the same for livestock breeds. There are probably well in excess of 500 horse breeds globally, though no single organisation recognises all of them. Since they exist pretty much entirely in captivity, their distributions depend only on who buys them. So tomorrow, somebody in the Saudi Arabia could buy some individuals of a breed that has only existed hitherto in the UK. Of course, cultivated plants and animals are being sold back and forth across the planet every day. Tracking these movements may well be interesting, but it’s not what iNaturalist is about.
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Hi @sandra0708, welcome to the iNat Forum! That’s an excellent question about horse breeds.
One catchy line is, iNaturalist can’t be all things to all people. This line is easy to remember, but it doesn’t explain the why. The replies above have done a great job of explaining the scientific reasons, but I’d like to add a practical reason as well.
It’s a question of focus and resources. Just like your own life: you only have 24 hours in a day, so you can’t do everything.
iNat is a nonprofit that has to make careful decisions about how to use its resources, like server space, staff time, and even paying to run this forum. By focusing its efforts on wild populations and natural biodiversity, iNat can make the biggest impact with what it has. It’s about doing a few things well, rather than trying to do everything.
Thanks for your thoughtful question!
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