Horses are Obligate Nasal Breathers: But does this Obligation Still Apply when a Horses ‘Nasopharyngeal Air Supply’ and with this its ‘Defence through Flight’, is Compromised

Abstract

It had been suggested that obligate nasal breathing had evolved to enhance a horses ability to detect predator scents whilst grazing. The singular opening of the vomeronasal organ into the nasal cavity had certainly developed in a manner that supported this form of breathing and thence theory. A horses ability to carry feed in its mouth, without this being drawn into the airway during flight, was another theory put forward to explain this obligation. The horse as a species is heavily reliant on flight as a means of defence and thence survival. Any reduction in nasopharyngeal patency would logically compromise a horses ability to maintain acceleration and thence its ability to evade a predator. The likelihood that a horse would elect to supplement a compromised nasal air supply with orally inspired air whilst fleeing a predator, seemed logical. Nasopharyngeal and upper tracheal intraluminal pressure measurements recorded during periods of intermittent dorsal displacement of the soft and experimentally induced palatal instability indicated that air was being acquired orally in these situations. Keywords: Palatal instability, mouth breathing, oropharyngeal seal, palatal instability, dorsal displacement of the soft palate. Read more →