The Two Deaths of Equids in Northeastern Brazil

Mary Tefft White Cultural Center, University Library

Despite their absence by the time Europeans arrived, equid species had previously been common in the Americas. One such equid was the tall-nosed Hippidion principale, which lived, among other South American regions, in the semi-arid backlands of Northeastern Brazil. As was the case with all other prehistoric New World horses, H. principale went extinct briefly after the arrival of humans in the late Pleistocene. In the 1500s, however, the Portuguese arrived in the Brazilian Northeast, and with them came a new equid: the donkey, which has become not only a common sight, but also a local cultural icon. Ecologically speaking, these donkeys are not at all unlike the late H. principale, such that, in their process of colonial expansion, the Portuguese fortuitously introduced Old World donkeys as a surrogate species, thus partaking in an unintentional process of rewilding in the local ecosystem of the semi-arid Brazilian caatinga. Now, however, these feral Hippidion-surrogates might be facing an extinction of their own, as their population dwindles due to the increasing demand for donkey-hide gelatin, a common and very sought-after ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine. At the current rate at which feral donkeys are being slaughtered for the colagen in their hides, they might soon be doomed to disappear from the local landscape. Tragically, the history of equids in Northeastern Brazil seems to be repeating itself.