DNA Reveals American Wild Horses Were Never What We Thought- No One Can Explain this

Wild horses are one of the most recognizable symbols of the American West. Roughly 85,000 of them and wild burros roam public lands across ten western states, protected by federal law since 1971 and managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The popular story says mustangs descend from the horses Spanish explorers brought to the continent in the 1500s. But horses have been here for tens of millions of years, disappeared at the end of the last ice age, and came back across an ocean. Then centuries of ranching, escapes, roundups and herd management added their own chapters. Today, genetic tools are making it possible to ask a simple question for the first time at scale: what is actually in the DNA of the horses on the range? And what does the answer mean for the herds, for the people who protect them, and for the people who manage the land they live on? Have you seen a wild band, or adopted a horse that came off the range? Tell us your state in the comments, and which herd she came from. #mustang #wildhorses #AmericanWest #wildlife #BLM #horses #genetics