The pink patches on the Lipizzan horses performing at Vienna's prestigious Spanish joy-riding school is caused by a mutated gene, a new study showed Sunday, solving a decades-old mystery over the horses' colour.
White and grey horses, including Lipizzans, are born with a pinker coat but lose their colour between the age of six and eight due to chromosome mutations, Austrian and Swedish researchers found in the study published Sunday in the scientific journal Nature Genetics.
These genetic changes cause the horses mane and tail to turn pink, and develop strange patterns on their coat. It is not uncommon for these horses to develop pink hooves.
These genetic changes cause the horses mane and tail to turn pink, and develop strange patterns on their coat. It is not uncommon for these horses to develop pink hooves.
Personally I think a horse with pink hair looks adorable...
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