Hi Mandy
There are a number of papers on how horses in the Camargue budget their
feeding time in different vegetation areas of their home range. Some of
the references are given in this link.
http://www3.vet.upenn.edu/labs/equinebehavior/hvnwkshp/hv02/houpt.htm
If you are lucky someone might have written the equivalent papers for
Camargue cattle!
I also have vague recollections that horses do worse than cattle in
droughts, because they can't travel as far from the remaining water
sources to forage.
And finally you might see if there are any papers linking digestive
physiology to isotope analysis. Horses are hindgut fermenters and
cattle are foregut fermenters, and that probably has an impact.
Cheers
Amanda
BBC Natural History Unit
Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2LR, UK
tel +44 117 973 2211 (switchboard) 97 47804 (direct)
fax +44 117 974 7544
-----Original Message-----
From: Analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mandy Jay
Sent: 29 June 2005 11:02
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ZOOARCH] horse feeding habits
I'm looking for some help in explaining possible dietary differences
between horses and cattle/sheep. My research area is stable isotope
analysis & I need to consider possible causes for the carbon differences
often seen between horses and these other two grazers. Can anybody
point me in the right direction for literature references which might
answer questions such as: do horses graze to a different level of a
grass (i.e. more or less close to ground level) than cattle/sheep? Do
they have a higher water requirement, so that they might regularly graze
closer to watercourses? Are they more likely (in a prehistoric context)
to have been fed regularly with stored feed? Are they more/less likely
to feed in shady conditions than cattle/sheep? (I'm particularly
interested in that question).
Grateful for any leads on where best to look for this kind of
information.
Mandy
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