The mainstream science view has long been that horses were extinct in the western hemisphere

until they were reintroduced to the Americas by the Spanish conquerors.

However, a growing movement has been challenging this view and claiming that horses were always

in the Americas.

Today we're going to see if science casts a definitive vote in telling us which version

of history is correct.

That's coming right up on Skeptoid.

You're listening to Skeptoid.

I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com, horses in pre-Columbian America.

Today we're going to point the skeptical eye at a hot topic in conservation, the history

of the wild horse in America.

The science indicates that after originating in America, horses went extinct with many

other species of megafauna at the end of the last ice age.

But a growing movement of various groups in the United States seeks to overturn this

body of knowledge with the seemingly random claim that horses were never extinct here

after all.

Why?

Well, we're going to find out.

According to all the fossil and genetic evidence, ancient horses evolved in the Americas, eventually

producing the genus Equus, which includes all modern equines.

Two to three million years ago, they crossed the Bering Land Bridge and spread throughout

Eurasia.

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