Equus hydruntinus (European Wild Ass)

[another specialist]

Thanks Carlos for the info gratefully received.

[RSN]

Out the neck size, the stripes e etc are correct?

[Carlos]

I think it most likely had one (or perhaps more) shoulder stripe instead of a series of neck stripes. Grey color and markings much like Equus africanus.

[another specialist]

rsn said:

Out the neck size, the stripes e etc are correct?

Yes, i think the neck is too long a bit out of proportion with the rest the boby and head. Yes, may be less stripes as Carlos mentioned aswell as colour grey of some form as most wild ass are.

[RSN]

Ok, thanks for the help.

Obs.: it´s not colored with color pencils, only with writting pencil.

[another specialist]

My pleasure RSN anytime

[RSN]

I found a pic:


Copyright Ko Sturkop - Apeldoorn - NL

home.hccnet.nl/j.sturkop/Paard_Ezel.html

Did it fits well with the descriptions, as I can use this as reference for my own drawing? What about the neck? It don't looks like the supposed cave painting of E. hydruntinus...

[RSN]

From a Italian site:

Un ambiente favorevole all’insediamento Una fitta vegetazione arborea, propria di un clima temperato e piovoso, copriva sia le montagne che la pianura; questa, resa piú ampia da una linea di costa piú bassa dell’attuale di oltre 50 metri, era anche occupata da vaste aree umide di diversa natura per la presenza di sorgenti, acque ristagnanti, corsi d’acqua, zone palustri e lacustri.



Gli abitatori delle grotte si sostenevano con le attività di caccia e raccolta, utilizzando le abbondanti risorse animali e vegetali disponibili nelle foreste, nelle radure liberate con il fuoco, nelle paludi o lungo i fiumi e la costa marina da cui erano tratti in abbondanza i molluschi.

Gli animali cacciati erano, tra la grande fauna, principalmente il bue selvatico (Bos primigenius), il cavallo selvatico (Equus hydruntinus), unici superstiti delle precedenti fasi medio-pleistoceniche, il cervo (Cervus elaphus), il cinghiale, la volpe.

www.ildelfino.org/officina/paleolitico.htm

[another specialist]

rsn said:

I

Did it fits well with the descriptions, as I can use this as reference for my own drawing? What about the neck? It don't looks like the supposed cave painting of E. hydruntinus...

Great image RSN that you found.

Well, we have to remember that cave drawings are early art forms and not that accurate for a start but give us a basic outline that resembles an animal.

So this drawing does resemble more an ass in form and the artist must of based on some more accurate information like fossil finds possibly.

May be worth contacting the artist to get more info?

[RSN]

Maybe, I'll try when I start to work in equids again.

[another specialist]

looking forward to any new works / images you create.

[cryptodude100]

What is the size of the European Ass?

[another specialist]

cryptodude100 said:

What is the size of the European Ass?

Generally it would of been similiar to the African and Asian Ass species and subspecies.

[Carlos]

LUDOVIC ORLANDO, MARJAN MASHKOUR, ARIANE BURKE, CHRISTOPHE J. DOUADY, VÉRA EISENMANN, CATHERINE HÄNNI (2006) Geographic distribution of an extinct equid (Equus hydruntinus: Mammalia, Equidae) revealed by morphological and genetical analyses of fossils
Molecular Ecology 15 (8), 2083–2093.


Equus hydruntinus inhabited Europe and the Middle East for more than 300 000 years. For a long time, palaeontological data failed to place E. hydruntinus into the equid phylogenetic tree, confronted with the fact that it shares primitive Equus characters with both zebras and asses, and derived characters with asses and hemiones. However, the study of a recently discovered skull points to a relationship with hemiones. Extraction of DNA from ancient samples from Crimea (E. hydruntinus) and Iran (E. cf. hydruntinus) yielded 134–288 bp of the mtDNA control region and 143 bp of the cytochrome b gene. This DNA analysis supports the proximity of E. hydruntinus and Equus hemionus suggested by skull and limb bone analyses, and rejects proximity to either Equus burchelli or the asses suggested by tooth morphology. Dental morphology may thus be of poor taxonomical value if used alone for establishing equid phylogenetic relationships. Furthermore, the small genetic distance between E. cf. hydruntinus of Iran and the classical E. hydruntinus of Crimea suggests that both samples belong to the same species. Accordingly, the geographic range of E. hydruntinus— until now believed to be restricted to Europe, Israel, and Turkey — can be extended towards East as far as Iran.

www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2006.02922.x?cookieSet=1&journalCode=mec

[another specialist]

Late Pleistocene and Holocene equid remains from Israel

www.ipa.min-cultura.pt/cipa/zoo/pubs/articles/1980-ZoolJ-Linn-Soc-Equids.pdf

Equid remains-mostly isolated teeth-from archaeological sites in Israel are described.
Particular attention is paid to dental enamel fold morphology and criteria are established for
separating several Old world Q.uaternary equid species. Equus hydruntinus, which is here considered
a zebra rather than an ass, was present unti112,000 bp in northern Israel, while at the same time E.
asinus/hemionus inhabited the arid regions in the south. Infrequent remains of E. caballus are also
described. By 4000 years ago ass, probably the domestic form, was present in northern Israel.


The two species domesticated by man are the ass and the horse. It is generally
agreed that Asiatic half-asses were not domesticated because they are too
stubborn and dangerous to handle today (Epstein, 1971). Neither the zebras of
Africa, nor the small prehistoric 'Eurapean' species E. hydruntinus were ever
domesticated.


Altogether five species of equids have been described fram the Late pleistocene-
Holocene sequence in Israel. Thus Bate (1937) identified E. caballus, E. hemionus
and E. hydruntinus in Late Pleistocene levels in the Mount Carmel caves. Ducos
(1968) identified E. asinus in the Early Branze Age of the south central plain and
Bouchud (1974) mentions the presence of an extinct zebra, E. mauritanicus, fram
the Lower Mousterian of -Djebel Qafzeh. Were all these species really present in
the Levant, and if so, where?

E. hydruntinus
The two most distinctive features of this species are the deep penetration of
the external fold in the lower molars, and the triangular or 'shoe' -shaped
pratocone in the upper teeth. Both are characteristic of the zebras. Teeth
showing these features are present in the Acheulean of Oum Qatafa and
Mousterian of Kebara, Tabun, Djebel Qafzeh and Kebaran of Ein Gev 1 and III.
Figure 11 shows that the hydruntine teeth from Tabun C (Lower Mousterian of
Bate, 1937) and levels J and L and XVI-XVII of Djebel Qafzeh, which are
considered earlier than Tabun C by Haas (inJelinek et al., 1973), are larger than
those fram the Upper Mousterian of Kebara cave. I suggest that this equid
underwent a size decrease during the Mousterian ofIsrael. A temporal size change
such as this offers an alternative identification for a Lower Mousterian hydruntine
tooth from Tabun C, referred to as E. hemionus due to its larger size by Bate (1937:
figo , see below). Moreover, the larger zebra-like equid fram the Lower
Mousterian of Djebel Qafzeh, which Bouchud (1974) calls E. mauritanicus, could
also be referred to as a large ancestral form of E. hydruntinus. In other words, there
is a possibility that E. mauritanicus and E. hydruntinus belong to the same species
which underwent a size decrease during the Mousterian. Alternatively, all the
Lower Mousterian material may be E. mauritanicus, a separate species about which
little is known. Figure 12 shows the metapodia of this small equid from Kebara
cave. These are similar to E. hydruntinus fram the Upper Palaeolithic levels of the
Gratta Romanelli in southern Italy figures by Stehlin & Graziosi (1935).





E. hydruntinus has not been found on any site in Israel which postdates 12,000
bp. By the Bronze Age, another small equid is found in northern Israel: E.
asinuslhemionus (probably E. asinus) at Kerem ben Zimra and Tel Gat (Ducos,
1968). This was probably an introduced domestic ass (see Fig. 1).

[Carlos]

In the classic book, written by the Castilian king Alfonso XI in the XIV century (dated in 1430) called "El libro de la monteria" (The Big Game Book) it is estated that "... se describen las aptitudes para la caza de diversos terrenos de los montes reales murcianos, y por él conocemos la existencia de jabalíes, osos, venados y encebras" (in the book the game of several royal hunting estates in the region of Murcia [SE Spain] is described, and because of that we know of the existence there by that time of wild boars, bears, red deer and encebras).

www.carm.es/siga/REVISTA/febrero05/html_rtf/html/monteria.htm
(in Spanish)

[another specialist]

Equus hydruntinus REGALIAThe presence of the small Middle to Late Pleistocenestenonid, Equus hydruntinus, was previously establishedin the Risovaa Cave, near Arandjelovac in Central Ser-bia (RAKOVEC, 1965; FORSTEN& DIMITRIJEVI], 1995).The coexistence of this species with a much larger, ca-balloid horse also characterizes the caves Baranica, Jeri-nina, and Ravanika. A further similarity lies in the lownumber of hydruntinus remains found in relation to thoseof caballoid horse remains found, as is the case withmost European finds of hydruntinus. In the RavanikaCave, there were two hydruntinus teeth compared withonly five caballoid specimens, but the sample in its enti-rety is too small to be conclusive regarding their origi-nal frequency. Whenever caballoid horse remains are found in large numbers in a cave, hydruntinus is gener-ally also present, Crvena Stijena being an exception.Material: Baranica Cave (Fig. 13a–l): L PM2 (BARII 97/1/10); L and R PM3–4 (BAR II 97/3/3 and 97/8/3),two L and four R M 1–2 (BAR 97/25/1, BAR II 97,BAR II 97/12/3, 1/10, 97/7/7, and 97/16/5); R pm 3–4(BAR II 97/9/12); L distal tibia (BAR II 97/8/65), andR astragalus (BAR II 97/11/7); pm2 (BAR II 97/8/13)may also belong to hydruntinus. Ravanika Cave (Fig.13n–o): R M3 (ZP 2/1) and R PM 3–4 (No. 378), andGradac (Jerinina Cave) (Fig. 13m) R M1–2 (No. 61).All over its range in Europe, the Middle East, andthe Caucasus, Equus hydruntinus is identifiable by itsdental morphology, although a single tooth may resem-ble small/much worn specimens of the caballoid horse.The protocones, although short, may have an anteriorextension, a “heel”, particularly in the molars. The pro-toconal length, i.e. the development of the heel, is vari-able within samples. A separate “subspecies”, E. hy-druntinus davidi Alimen was established, believed todiffer in having relatively long protocones (ALIMEN,1946), but significant differences in the protoconallength between local samples have not been demonstrat-ed. The lower cheek teeth are typically stenonid withV–shaped lingual grooves, protostylid plications indicat-ed, and mostly deep molar ectoflexids. Occasionally, themolar ectoflexids may be shallow, resembling those ofthe Asiatic Wild Ass, E. hemionus PALLAS. Generallysmall, the limb bones vary locally in size, but the slen-der metapodials and proximal phalanges are characteris-tic, an additional resemblance with E. hemionus.The few hydruntinus teeth listed above do not differfrom the teeth described from elsewhere of the species’range, either in their size or morphology (Fig. 13). Themean protoconal lengths are: PM3–4 7.98 mm, M1–29.25 mm; there may be a short heel. The plicationcounts vary between 6–11 plications; the plis caballinwere obliterated early by wear.The astragalus from Baranica (BAR II 97/11/7) com-pares closely with that from the Rissian of La AdamCave, Rumania, (SAMSON, 1975: table 14).The Equus hydruntinus is believed to have preferreddry and temperate climatic conditions, but the specieshas been found in France under glacial conditions also(PRAT, 1968). In the Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria, hy-druntinus occurs from layer 7 to and including layer13, dated from 29 150 +/– 950 BP to >47 000 BP(MOOK, 1982; GINTER& KOZLOWSKI, 1982), and underclimate conditions varying from cool-dry or cold-humidto warm-dry and warm-humid (KOWALSKI, 1982). Themaximum frequency of hydruntinus is in layer 11, dat-ed > 40 000 BP (MOOK, 1982), when the climate wasbecoming warmer and increasingly humid, precedingthe maximum cold of layer 12 (KOWALSKI, 1982; GIN-TER& KOZLOWSKI, 1982). It is not known from whichlayers of the Risovaa, Baranica, Ravanika, and Jeri-nina caves hydruntinus derives, neither the age nor the climatic conditions are known.

www.doiserbia.nbs.bg.ac.yu/(A(4HOwZxaByAEkAAAAOWI4ZmZkMjItYmQ2ZS00NjE2LThiYzItZDBiZTkxZjRiOWI2u_QHfR6x9qJFfLUD7RKXu52Kgmg1))/img/doi/0350-0608/2003/0350-06080301055F.pdf

[another specialist]

Pleistocene/Holocene discontinuity in the
horse record
In the Central Balkans, as well as elsewhere in Europe,
the records indicate that the caballoid horses disappeared
at the end of the Pleistocene. There are no finds
of caballoid horse from the Early Holocene faunas of
Serbia, although due to extensive archaeological excavations
these faunas are much better known than those from
the Late Pleistocene. The Equus hydruntinus survived and
locally in the Neolithic even formed an important part of
the fauna and of man’s subsistence (BÖKÖNYI, 1984).
The further history shows, once again, the caballoid/
stenonid turnover. The latest representative of the
stenonid horses, E. hydruntinus, became extinct in the
Middle Neolithic (BÖKÖNYI, 1974) or as late as in the
Copper Age in Spain (BOESSNECK, 1967), while the caballoid
horse reappeared in the Eneolithic, this time as
domesticated animals.

www.doiserbia.nbs.bg.ac.yu/(A(4HOwZxaByAEkAAAAOWI4ZmZkMjItYmQ2ZS00NjE2LThiYzItZDBiZTkxZjRiOWI2u_QHfR6x9qJFfLUD 7RKXu52Kgmg1))/img/doi/0350-0608/2003/0350-06080301055F.pdf

[maddy]

From the discription of the Zebro forces me to include that it had to be the sorraia horse.

.Grey color
.Dorsal Stripe on back

. Bars on legs

.Mare like and whining

.Cross over the shoulders

Also the fact that european wild ass died out 8000 years ago convince me that it most be a sorraia.
www.horseshowcentral.com/flex/sorraia/327/1
It almost a prefect discription of the sorraia horse.

If was not the sorraia the only other animal that could fit the discription would have to be the African Wild Ass.

[another specialist]

www.vera-eisenmann.com/IMG/pdf/127.Pluriquest_OK.pdf