"Assateague's wild horses are well known, even to many people who have never been to the island. The ‘wild’ horses on Assateague are actually feral animals, meaning that they are descendants of domestic animals that have reverted to a wild state.
Despite the often told tale of the horses swimming to Assateague from a shipwrecked Spanish galleon, the most plausible explanation is that they are the descendants of horses that were brought to barrier islands like Assateague in the late 17th century by mainland owners to avoid fencing laws and taxation of livestock."
I never got this: Are those ponies "wild" or just feral?
ReplyDeleteferal. From NPS:
ReplyDelete"Assateague's wild horses are well known, even to many people who have never been to the island. The ‘wild’ horses on Assateague are actually feral animals, meaning that they are descendants of domestic animals that have reverted to a wild state.
Despite the often told tale of the horses swimming to Assateague from a shipwrecked Spanish galleon, the most plausible explanation is that they are the descendants of horses that were brought to barrier islands like Assateague in the late 17th century by mainland owners to avoid fencing laws and taxation of livestock."