From FOSTER project to doctorate

Report by Jana Skrobanek

Just like us, horses also have to go to the dentist - for preventive care and to treat diseases. In recent years, studies have shown a high incidence of sometimes serious dental diseases in both horses and donkeys. Now the question arises, why? Is this simply a problem of the equine species or have we as humans failed? Is it because we have historically domesticated animals that happened to have bad teeth, or because we are feeding them the wrong food today?

© Jana Skrobanek

To investigate this question, I examined the skulls of various groups for my master's thesis. To clarify the question of whether this is a problem of the equine species, I looked at skulls of these (i.e. zebras, half- and wild asses) in natural history museums. As the skulls came from wild populations as well as zoo animals, I was also able to investigate the influence of human feeding from 1880 to 1940. But what about domestic horses that were not fed in a modern way? Skulls from archaeological excavations provided information on this.

However, I am a biologist and not a veterinarian, so in addition to traveling to the skulls, I also had to spend time at the Veterinary Medicine Department at JLU Giessen to acquire the relevant specialist knowledge. These trips were made possible by FOSTER funding.

And now? We are apparently to blame, and not 5000 years ago, but today and even in the 19th and 20th centuries. Whether domesticated domestic horse or mountain zebra, when these animals have been fed by humans in the last 150 years, the incidence of serious diseases in particular has increased.

However, what exactly the problem seems to be, how dental health can perhaps even be improved and what the actual situation is with zebras kept in zoos today is still completely unclear. My subsequent doctorate is intended to clarify these questions.