Wild Horses: America's Most Beloved Invasive Species?

Wild horses made their home on the islands of North Carolina centuries ago, supposedly descendants of horses brought by shipwrecked colonizers. Today, they are celebrities on these islands, creating a tourist frenzy and drawing thousands of people every summer to the northern beaches of North Carolina.

But the situation is complicated. The horse population needs to be managed because they can cause serious damage to the ecosystem. How can we respect these horses and keep them wild while protecting the islands?

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Hosted by Joe Hanson from It's Okay to be Smart, Overview uses incredible 4k drone footage to reveal the natural phenomena shaping our planet from a 10,000-foot view—literally.
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[steveyd]

I love how people rate an animals importance by how cute they are or how close they are to a pet.

[bookbug]

I'm so glad I discovered this channel! So interesting!

[Izzy-qfdo]

Target: You go for some shampoo and leave with a horse.

[sean]

For one invasive species to call another species "invasive", it is a weird one for horses to be called invasive in their own homeland.

[minimovies]

Speaking of invasive species. We are best example.

[limerence]

We have the same problem in the Phoenix Park in Dublin with wild deer that live there. They aren't invasive, they live in a city park, their population is very strictly controlled. But people walk up to them, (they could gouge your guts out with those antlers), feed them (poisoning them) letting their dogs run after them (stressing them out making them more likely to die from stress. Stressed animals don't mate or eat).

[hoaxgoat]

So glad Eons mentioned this! I didn't even know the Outer Banks had wild horses too! Thought at first this was gonna be about Assateague.

[PhoebeFayRuthLouise]

3:47 The damage out west is from cattle ranchers, not wild horses! And the wild horse population would be naturally controlled if the wolves and cougars weren’t hunted so heavily!

[qwertyuiop-kefs]

"They're damaging the landscape!"
**drives truck on beach**

[Alexander-isjo]

Your videos always leave me wanting to know more and I usually find myself -researching- searching about the topic you talk about.
Thanks

[harayaespadrilles]

Oh, it's Joe. I love this series. 😍

[AHideousPlatypus]

'many view them as an invasive pest and one that's damaging a fragile landscape' ... while trucks are being driven up and down on the beach...

[coopergelb]

You can watch the host cringe a little when he endorses target lol

[tessat]

Another theory for the origin of these coastal horse populations is that colonial era farmers stowed horses on the barrier islands to avoid taxation.

[QockNobblr]

Horses actually evolved and adapted in the americas, alongside many other ungulates during an early migration period. Including but not limited to; mammoths, mastodon, bison, deer, elk, antelope, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, camelids (which includes camels, Llamas and alpacas) and many more. They are native to this land, we just so happened to have reintroduced them. Just like we reintroduced wolves to yellowstone.

[indianajonas]

i came here from pbs eons, and im glad i found that gem of a channel :)

[jinxedpenguin]

Barrier Islands should really all be protected land that never had significant human development, anyway. St Mary's National Sea Shore in Georgia is a great example of this. Galveston, on the other hand, is a terrible example of this. But that Island is far, FAR more developed than any of the southeastern Islands I've seen. It *was* supposed to be Houston before the Galveston hurricane.

[cheesedude]

Great show. Glad Eons suggested it. Always like Joe's "Smart" channel, too. Bit disappointed they are so East Coast-centric, particularly in an episode like this. They talk about a handful of horses on islands never intended to be lived on by either humans or horses, and virtually ignore the tens of thousands out west, living the lives their ancestors lived before extinction on this continent. THAT is the story of wild horses in America.

[hannahgendron]

Mustangs lived here for a long time without overly straining the environment, the issues now are because they're being aggressively displaced by cattle farming.

[ElicBehexan]

In 1985 my mother, sister and I went to Assateague. My sister went to play in the ocean, I went to find some wild ponies. And I found them. I saw them and they saw me. I moved slowly toward them until one, probably the stallion, turned to face me and gave me a warning snort. Now, I've been riding horses since 1963, and while I only rode nice, tame horses, I heard that snort before and knew what it was. I crouched down, and no longer approached them. The one that warned me off, stayed on the side of the herd I was on, and continued to watch me, but since I was keeping my distance and I was out in the open, he didn't feel the need to warn me again. I stayed there and watched them for about 20 minutes before I got up and moved away. Now, since I do know horses, I continued to look back at the herd since I didn't want the stallion to feel emboldened to come after me. Not that I backed away, but I kept looking back. Those ponies don't seem to be quite as accustomed humans as these bank horses. Granted it was 35 years ago, but the ponies are also not getting quite as much human interaction since Assateague is a protected island.