Interesting, I tought it would be the same.
Btw, do you happen to know approximate how many humans are needed to avoid inbreed?
WI: Norse brought horses to America
- Thread starter rcduggan
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Interesting, I tought it would be the same.
Btw, do you happen to know approximate how many humans are needed to avoid inbreed?
By what i understood, much more difficult to pull carts and plows, but not impossible.
The New World may have been settled by only 70 humans about 14,000 years ago.
(http://www.livescience.com/history/050525_america_settlers.html)
All the New World inhabitants can trace some genes to only 6 women
(http://beta.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/03/13/native.american.dna.ap/index.html)
And from http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=113
"Theoretically, you could start with just two. . . if they were an incredibly special couple, it could be done. If you start a new population with a group of “average” people, then the numbers I’ve heard are around 160 or so, 80 men and 80 women. . . The number of “founders” depends on the genes of the people involved. The special couple I talked about would need to have very few hidden “bad” genes and some luck to successfully found a new group. It is possible to get by with fewer than 160. For example, the elephant seal was hunted down to around 20 seals by the late 1890’s. Today there are around 30,000 and they are all pretty much the same genetically. (Because of the way elephant seals mate, all of the elephant seals around today could have come from a single father.)"
The fewer animals you have the more likely it is that "bad" genes will cause problems in the long run, but an extremely small number of individuals can still lead to a successful population.
ALT could easily have horses from a few failed Norse expeditions. They would be small and would not take to being ridden when young but, on the plus side, they would be less easily spooked than European horses, have a high tolerance for cold and for pain, be intelligent, be more independent (and more successful when they go feral) -- all assuming they are like Icelandic Ponies.
(http://www.livescience.com/history/050525_america_settlers.html)
All the New World inhabitants can trace some genes to only 6 women
(http://beta.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/03/13/native.american.dna.ap/index.html)
And from http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=113
"Theoretically, you could start with just two. . . if they were an incredibly special couple, it could be done. If you start a new population with a group of “average” people, then the numbers I’ve heard are around 160 or so, 80 men and 80 women. . . The number of “founders” depends on the genes of the people involved. The special couple I talked about would need to have very few hidden “bad” genes and some luck to successfully found a new group. It is possible to get by with fewer than 160. For example, the elephant seal was hunted down to around 20 seals by the late 1890’s. Today there are around 30,000 and they are all pretty much the same genetically. (Because of the way elephant seals mate, all of the elephant seals around today could have come from a single father.)"
The fewer animals you have the more likely it is that "bad" genes will cause problems in the long run, but an extremely small number of individuals can still lead to a successful population.
ALT could easily have horses from a few failed Norse expeditions. They would be small and would not take to being ridden when young but, on the plus side, they would be less easily spooked than European horses, have a high tolerance for cold and for pain, be intelligent, be more independent (and more successful when they go feral) -- all assuming they are like Icelandic Ponies.