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Pictures: Copyright Ludovic Orlando
Inner Mongolia, July 2019
From June 30th-July 4th 2019, we visited Prof Manglai's research group and participated to the 1st Equine Science Forum in Inner Mongolia.
We took advantage of the trip to also visit important horse herding sites in Inner Mongolia.
A horse herder guiding horses towards one specific direction so as to catch them.
A horse herder figuring out the best possible way to catch some horses.
Horse herders galloping at full speed to catch horses.
Horse herders reassessing which horses could be caught, and wind mills in the background. A world of long-lasting traditions and modern green energy technologies.
Cell Publication, May 2019
Fages A, Hanghøj K, Khan N, Gaunitz C, Seguin-Orlando A, Leonardi M, McCrory Constantz C, Gamba C, Al-Rasheid KAS, Albizuri S, Alfarhan AH, Allentoft M, Alquraishi S, Anthony D, Baimukhanov N, Barrett JH, Bayarsaikhan J, Benecke N, Bernáldez-Sánchez E, Berrocal-Rangel L, Biglari F, Boessenkool S, Boldgiv B, Brem G, Brown D, Burger J, Crubézy E, Daugnora L, Davoudi H, de Barros Damgaard P, de Los Ángeles de Chorro Y de Villa-Ceballos M, Deschler-Erb S, Detry C, Dill N, do Mar Oom M, Dohr A, Ellingvåg S, Erdenebaatar D, Fathi H, Felkel S, Fernández-Rodríguez C, García-Viñas E, Germonpré M, Granado JD, Hallsson JH, Hemmer H, Hofreiter M, Kasparov A, Khasanov M, Khazaeli R, Kosintsev P, Kristiansen K, Kubatbek T, Kuderna L, Kuznetsov P, Laleh H, Leonard JA, Lhuillier J, Liesau von Lettow-Vorbeck C, Logvin A, Lõugas L, Ludwig A, Luis C, Arruda AM, Marques-Bonet T, Matoso Silva R, Merz V, Mijiddorj E, Miller BK, Mochlov O, Mohaseb FA, Morales A, Nieto-Espinet A, Nistelberger H, Onar V, Pálsdóttir AH, Pitulko V, Pitskhelauri K, Pruvost M, Rajic Sikanjic P, Rapan Papeša A, Roslyakova N, Sardari A, Sauer E, Schafberg R, Scheu A, Schibler J, Schlumbaum A, Serrand N, Serres-Armero A, Shapiro B, Sheikhi Seno S, Shevnina I, Shidrang S, Southon J, Star B, Sykes N, Taheri K, Taylor W, Teegen WR, Trbojević Vukičević T, Trixl S, Tumen D, Undrakhbold S, Usmanova E, Vahdati A, Valenzuela-Lamas S, Viegas C, Wallner B, Weinstock J, Zaibert V, Clavel B, Lepetz S, Mashkour M, Helgason A, Stefánsson K, Barrey E, Willerslev E, Outram AK, Librado P, Orlando L. 2019. Tracking Five Millennia of Horse Management with Extensive Ancient Genome Time Series. 2019 Apr 26. pii: S0092-8674(19)30384-8.
Equus Documentary, January 2019
Ludovic participated to the fantastic Equus documentary series. Watch out the 2nd episod on the 'First Riders'.
Science Publication, February 2018
Gaunitz C, Fages A, Hanghøj K, Albrechtsen A, Khan N, Schubert M, Seguin-Orlando A, Owens IJ, Felkel S, Bignon-Lau O, de Barros Damgaard P, Mittnik A, Mohaseb AF, Davoudi H, Alquraishi S, Alfarhan AH, Al-Rasheid KAS, Crubezy E, Benecke N, Olsen S, Brown D, Anthony D, Massy K, Pitulko V, Kasparov A, Brem G, Hofreiter M, Mukhtarova G, Baimukhanov N, Lougas L, Onar V, Stockhammer PW, Krause J, Boldgiv B, Undrakhbold, Erdenebaatar D, Lepetz S, Mashkour M, Ludwig A, Wallner B, Merz V, Merz I, Zaibert V, Willerslev E, Librado P, Outram A, Orlando L. 2018. Ancient genomes revisit the ancestry of domestic and Przewalski’s horses. Science Feb 22, doi: 10.1126/science.aao3297
Science Publication, April 2017
Pablo Librado, Cristina Gamba, Charleen Gaunitz, Clio Der Sarkissian, Mélanie Pruvost, Anders Albrechtsen, Antoine Fages, Naveed Khan, Mikkel Schubert, Vidhya Jagannathan, Aitor Serres-Armero, Lukas F. K. Kuderna, Inna S. Povolotskaya, Andaine Seguin-Orlando, Sébastien Lepetz, Markus Neuditschko, Catherine Thèves, Saleh Alquraishi, Ahmed H. Alfarhan, Khaled Al-Rasheid, Stefan Rieder, Zainolla Samashev, Henri-Paul Francfort, Norbert Benecke, Michael Hofreiter, Arne Ludwig, Christine Keyser, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Bertrand Ludes, Eric Crubézy, Tosso Leeb, Eske Willerslev, Ludovic Orlando. 2017. Ancient genomic changes associated with domestication of the horse. Science 356:442-445.
Kazakhstan, August 2016
From August 8-12th 2016, we joined an ongoing excavation at Botay, the site where horses were first domesticated some 5,500 years ago. Patches of green grasses likely represent Botay houses that still remain to be excavated.
Viktor Zaibert, head of the excavation, is contemplating the excavation while he is filmed by the drone of our film crew.
Students are excavating horse pits at Botay, where horses represent ~99% of the bone assemblages.
Horses were dumped in a pit. Once excavated, multiple horse bones and teeth can be collected.
At Botay, we not only excavated the remains from the first domesticated horses in the planet, but also took part of a documentary series about the horse, and its impact on human history.
In Kazakhstan, mares are milked every day in order to prepare the Kumiss, a fermented dairy product made of horse milk.
Mongolia, September 2016
From Khovd, we drove across the dry steppes of the Khomiin Tal plateau to reach Seer, the reserve where Przewalski's horses have been reintroduced.
Our fourgon provided enough space for myself and a whole film crew. The drive went smoothly on our way in, but on the way back, we broke the transmission and got two flat tires.
But luckily, this was nothing that our driver could not fix as he had magic skills in mechanics.
On our way, we also collected hair samples from Mongolian horses/
One of our rangers, Ayursal, helped us sampling hair for future genetic analyses.
The summer camp at Seer includes a series of ghers for the people involved in the reintroduction and conservation programme, as well as a few for visiting collaborators.
This section will be regularly updated as the project makes some progress.
