Susan Kidson of UCT discuss's how the relationship between
humankind and equids – a family that includes horses, asses, donkeys,
and zebras – shaped the path of history on the African continent. In this
Fine Minds lecture, Professor Kidson will draw on research by Equus
in Africa, a documentary project about the history of the horse family on
our continent.
The Equus in Africa project began in a film editing suite when director
Erica Brumage and producer Katherine Leach-Lewis found themselves chatting about their mutual love of horses and wondering why no documentary series had yet tackled the subject of horses in Africa. They soon found a wealth of relevant material across many disciplines, including history, biology, culture and art.
When Sue Kidson, a cell biologist at UCT, became involved, she brought
her expertise as a zoologist and geneticist to the mix.
From Hipparion, a grazing four-toed horse whose footprints were
found preserved beside those of early hominids in Tanzania, to the
mounts that served the VOC and the competing forces of the Anglo-Boer
War, this lecture covers the many ways humans and equids have
interacted in Africa over the millennia.