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Updated: Sep 3, 2025

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Tool Use in Horses.

Konstanze Krueger1,2, Laureen Trager2,3, Kate Farmer4

  • 1Department Zoology/Evolutionary Biology, University of Regensburg, Universitätsstraße 31, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.

Animals : an Open Access Journal From MDPI
|July 27, 2022
PubMed
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Tool use in equids (horses, mules, donkeys) is rare but occurs, particularly when management conditions are restricted. Crowdsourcing revealed tool use for foraging and social purposes, often involving others.

Area of Science:

  • Ethology
  • Animal Behavior
  • Cognitive Ecology

Background:

  • Tool use is documented across many animal species but has not been confirmed in equids (horses, mules, donkeys).
  • Investigating complex behaviors like tool use in equids presents significant research challenges for conventional methods.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the occurrence and characteristics of tool use in equids.
  • To explore the influence of management conditions and social context on equid tool use.

Main Methods:

  • A crowdsourcing approach was employed, collecting owner reports and videos of unusual equid behaviors.
  • Systematic searches of online platforms (YouTube, Facebook) were conducted for evidence of equid tool use.
  • Data from 635 reports (1014 behaviors) were analyzed, focusing on 20 cases of tool use, with 13 deemed unambiguous.
Keywords:
crowdsourcinghorseinnovationmanagementmuletool use

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Main Results:

  • Thirteen unambiguous cases of equid tool use were identified, with 12 associated with management restrictions (p = 0.01).
  • Examples include using sticks for foraging and brushes for social grooming.
  • Eight of the 13 cases involved social interactions with other equids or humans.

Conclusions:

  • Equids demonstrate the capacity for tool use, especially under restricted management conditions.
  • Tool use in equids is a rare phenomenon, primarily observed in foraging and social contexts.
  • The findings highlight the adaptability of equids and the potential for tool use to emerge in response to environmental or social factors.