1452 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



Showing 



NORSE IIOKSK 

 fall coat. Photograph made in October. 



Our Norse horse, which 

 has been appropriately 

 named Viking, is a very 

 typical .specimen, about thir- 

 teen and one-half hands 

 high, a yellow dun in color, 

 witli dark dorsal stripe 

 strongly, defined. The hori- 

 zontal striping of the knees 

 and hocks is much more no- 

 ticeable than in his INIongo- 

 lian relative. 



In temperament Viking is 

 almost gentle, though per- 

 haps not quite so intelligent, 

 as his companion Celt. 



Both seem perfectly ac- 

 climated, and happy in their 

 new environment, and now 

 that the prescribed period 

 of quarantine is past, they 

 are ready for inspection on 

 the knoll just west of the 

 Zebra House. 



Tlte Government re- 

 quirements are very exact- 

 ing regarding the quarantine of hoofed animals 

 from the Old World, on account of the various 

 diseases that they might carry. The period of 

 quarantine in the Park is about thirt}^ days. 



between the upright mane and entire absence of 

 forelock in the wild horse, and the falling mane 

 and full forelock of the Norse horse. Another 

 point of difference is in the character of the 

 tail. While in this respect 

 the Norse horse is not un- 

 like the average cart horse, 

 the caudal appendage of the 

 wild horse is quite distinct- 

 ive, supporting long persist- 

 ent hair on the lower third 

 only, the hair on the upper 

 two-thirds of the tail being 

 deciduous and not more 

 than four or five inches long 

 even in winter. 



It is believed by Ewart, 

 Osborn and others that 

 these two species branched 

 off from a common stem 

 many thousand years ago. 

 During historic time, prob- 

 ably about the 12th century, 

 the Norse horse was intro- 

 duced into Scotland from 

 Scandinavia. It was this 

 species which the great nat- 

 uralist, Linnaeus, in the year 

 1766, called Equus caballus, 

 though the name was after- 

 ward applied to all domes- the Celtic horse 



tic horses. Winter coat only beginning to develop. Photograph made in October. 



