Behavior
In the wild, Przewalski's horses live in small, permanent family groups consisting of one adult stallion, one to three mares, and their common offspring. Offspring stay in the family group until they are no longer dependent, usually at 2 or 3 years old. Bachelor stallions, and sometimes old stallions, join bachelor groups. Family groups can join together to form a herd that move together.
The patterns of their daily lives exhibit horse behavior similar to that of feral horse herds. Stallions herd, drive and defend all members of their family, while the mare often displays leadership in the family. Stallions and mares stay with their preferred partner for years.
Horses maintain visual contact with their family and herd at all times and have a host of ways to communicate with one another, including vocalizations, scent marking, and a wide range of visual and tactile signals. Each kick, groom, tilt of the ear, or other contact with another horse are means of communicating. This constant communication leads to complex social behaviors among Przewalski's horses.
Read more about this topic: Przewalski's Horse
Famous quotes containing the word behavior:
“Consciousness is cerebral celebritynothing more and nothing less. Those contents are conscious that persevere, that monopolize resources long enough to achieve certain typical and symptomatic effectson memory, on the control of behavior and so forth.”
—Daniel Clement Dennett (b. 1942)
“The civilizing process has increased the distance between behavior and the impulse life of the animal body.”
—Shoshana Zuboff (b. 1951)
“There is a striking dichotomy between the behavior of many women in their lives at work and in their lives as mothers. Many of the same women who are battling stereotypes on the job, who are up against unspoken assumptions about the roles of men and women, seem to acceptand in their acceptance seem to reinforcethese roles at home with both their sons and their daughters.”
—Ellen Lewis (20th century)