this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 147 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (5 children)

Wait what's the deal with the horses? I want to feel good about myself today.

Edit: Wow, those bastards have it rough.

[–] [email protected] 193 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Their genetics have sacrificed nearly every aspect of basic resiliency for maximum speed on the plains. Most of the work caring for horses is keeping them from accidentally killing themselves. Full disclosure: I worked as a stable hand as a child in exchange for riding lessons. Will never ever own a horse.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 5 days ago

Same for rabbits. The are basically as much lean muscle that can fit on the lighest possible skeleton.

If you pick up a rabbit wrong, they can snap their own back with the momentum from kicking their back legs.

[–] [email protected] 70 points 6 days ago (7 children)

What preditor was so fast horses had to evolve to that extent??

[–] [email protected] 79 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Big cat. You're aware of the cheetah? Just picture that but not in Africa

[–] [email protected] 38 points 6 days ago (15 children)

You know what really caught me up: where are horses native to?

[–] [email protected] 66 points 6 days ago (1 children)

There are wild horses on the Mongolian steppes.

All other horses are domesticated. Even the free horses in USA and Australia are descendants of domesticated horses.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

You're right! But also, horses were native to North America but they went extinct 10,000 years ago and weren't introduced until much more recently.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 5 days ago (4 children)

Us. They basically tried to beat pursuit predation by outrunning the distance humans will be willing to track over.

It did not work, they went extinct in North America because of how much it did not work.

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 6 days ago (3 children)

I did this too and will also never own a horse lmao. This is why horse people are weird.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 5 days ago

Basically a 900LB Cocker Spaniel that's afraid of it's own farts and will eventually kill every single tree within reach. I also will never own horses.

[–] [email protected] 94 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Sometimes they will die because they can’t puke. Also broken legs are usually fatal even with vet care.

[–] [email protected] 113 points 6 days ago (5 children)

To add on why broken legs are fatal: its because horses are so big, that even with a sling, they cannot support themselves well on 3 legs. And lying down is also not an option as their own weight will crush their internal organs if they stay down for too long.

[–] [email protected] 60 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Oh, wow, I had always thought that shooting a horse with a broken leg was an act of brutal expedience, not mercy.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 5 days ago

Also, don't they need to run to move food through their digestive tract? Or to force themselves to cough if they have something stuck in their lungs? I think there is some sort of dependency of basic functions that relies on the movement of their lungs/stomach going back and forth while running that they can't easily do if they just stand in one place all day

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[–] [email protected] 76 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The term healthy as a horse is mostly survivorship bias

[–] [email protected] 38 points 5 days ago (1 children)

From what i read here there's no unhealthy horse, it's either healthy or dead.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 6 days ago (5 children)

They only have 4 toes total.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 6 days ago (1 children)

And they run around at 60mph on the tips of their toenails.

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[–] [email protected] 79 points 6 days ago (32 children)

Tbf, our teeth aren't bad. They just didn't evolve to consume so much sugar.

[–] [email protected] 76 points 6 days ago (2 children)

From an evolutionary standpoint we just have to survive long enough to reproduce, if we can't eat past age of reproduction there's no evolutionary pressure to change that.

Thank goodness for modern dentistry.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (10 children)

That’s completely untrue.

Evolution applies to the entire lifespan — if we could “reproduce” but died in childbirth every time, our species would have gone extinct long ago.

Parents and grandparents also contribute greatly to the success of a child long long after they’re born, helping to ensure it also survives to reproductive age.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 5 days ago

Dolphins probably lament not being able to make milk come out of their buddy's nose by making them laugh while drinking.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The breathing and eating tubes gotta cross so you can blow with your mouth and choke on cock. Non-negotiable.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (3 children)

tbf horses have big dicks, it could have been worse for them

[–] [email protected] 53 points 5 days ago (2 children)

You stand on your toenails

[–] [email protected] 29 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Both valid points. I will still need some time to take this all into consideration.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Consider this: horses can't puke and just die if they eat something bad

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 days ago (15 children)

The teeth thing is just because of our high sugar, high grain diet

The first* people with bad dental health were Egyptians as they lived on bread (which packs your teeth and feeds the bacteria that ferment it and make acid) before that, and until the invention spread, people died of old age with all their teeth intact

I eat very low carb - almost entirely meat due to allergies, and haven't had a cavity since I started doing that, despite me nearly never brushing or flossing my teeth

*There were also people who lived in the tropics and ate a lot of fruit, and those with sugar cane.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 days ago

You never brush your teeth? It's not only good for health dude

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 days ago (6 children)

Brush your teeth bud. People can probably smell your breath from a mile away.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 5 days ago

A horse is just an intense desire to die on four legs.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

THE APPENDIX HAS ENTERED THE CHAT.

Being able to make our own Vitamin C aside, the fact that a vestigial organ can randomly decide to fucking kill you is asinine from a design perspective. Its the equivalent to building a pool in the sims and removing the ladder for the first person who wanders inside.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 5 days ago (3 children)

It's not totally vestigial, it helps regulate colon bacteria. People without their appendix take longer to recover from diarrhea, which is important when bad water and spoiled food are a more regular part of your life.

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Its only a valve. Topologically speaking, the passage from the mouth to the anus only constitutes one hole.

The passage of air into the lungs is not a hole however, that is a cavity. Same difference with the vagina, that's not a hole, that's a cavity.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 6 days ago (23 children)
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[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Horses not breathing while running opened a whole new world of anxiety for me.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 days ago (11 children)

Look up the recurrent laryngeal nerve.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 days ago (4 children)
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[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 days ago (11 children)

I am 99% sure humans are supposed to have tails

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 days ago (5 children)

imagine having a stuffy nose and you can't breathe with your mouth.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago

Horses were at least marginally less ridiculous before people got involved. Not quite to the same extent as dogs, but compare a steppe horse with a thoroughbred and you'll see that they're smaller and hardier. Much better equipped to live, slightly less able to carry fully armored people on their back.

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