American Museum of Natural History – The Horse
TH_me_5-2-0_BiologyOfTheHorse_SCRIPT - Script
HORSE BIO INTERACTIVE: INTRO
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Video Screen attract loop: no text, exterior of horse
Video Screen intro loop: X-ray view, with fun facts
popping up
Rotating fun facts: exterior
Horses have the largest eyes of any land mammal.
Horses can hear both lower and higher pitched
sounds than humans can.
The entire skin of a horse is as sensitive as the skin
on your fingertips.
Horses naturally graze 12 to 16 hours a day.
Horses can sweat ten liters of water (2.6 gallons) in
ten minutes.
Horses stand on a single finger or toe. Each hoof is
like a giant fingernail.
Horses stand for 20 hours a day, and they can sleep
standing up.
This horse is named Oberon. He weighs about 500
kilograms (1,100 pounds).
[estimate, awaiting actual weight]
A thoroughbred can run 63 kilometers (39 miles)
per hour for one minute.
A horse can run 18 kilometers per hour (11 miles
per hour) for 80 kilometers (50 miles).
Rotating fun facts: interior
A galloping horse breathes 1,800 liters (475 gallons)
of air per minute.
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American Museum of Natural History – The Horse
TH_me_5-2-0_BiologyOfTheHorse_SCRIPT - Script
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A horse’s heart is about the size of a basketball.
The cecum, where grass is digested, can hold 36
liters (ten gallons) of food.
A horse can produce 20 kilograms (45 pounds) of
manure per day.
The lower part of a horse’s leg contains no muscles.
The spleen contains extra blood cells which it
releases for a burst of energy.
A horse uses 60 times more oxygen when galloping
than when walking.
Horses can only take one breath per stride, limiting
their oxygen intake.
When horses run, the oxygen levels in their blood
drop far lower than a human could tolerate.
Left Kiosk
Attract Loop
Text:
Touch the screen to explore how horses see and
hear the world.
To explore how horses stand, run and digest food,
use the other kiosk.
(This may not be necessary if it’s indicated on a
graphic panel)
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American Museum of Natural History – The Horse
TH_me_5-2-0_BiologyOfTheHorse_SCRIPT - Script
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General Intro Screen: Ears & Eyes
VISION AND HEARING INTRO
EYES AND EARS
Horses evolved as prey animals, always on the
lookout for predators. Their vision and hearing let
them stay alert to danger from all directions at
once. Horses can turn their ears toward any sound.
And they can see almost all the way around their
bodies because their eyes are on the sides of their
head.
Button:
Eyes
Button:
Ears
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American Museum of Natural History – The Horse
TH_me_5-2-0_BiologyOfTheHorse_SCRIPT - Script
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EYES INTRO
Monocular Vision: Wall Screen labels
Probably delete this:
Each eye sees one side of the body.
Callouts for animation
Left eye field of vision
Right eye field of vision
Binocular Vision – Wall screen labels
Both eyes overlap for 3D vision
Monocular Vision: Kiosk Screen Intro
MONOCULAR VISION
Instead of having both eyes face forward, a horse
has one eye on each side of its head. Each eye
points out to the side, allowing the horse to see
almost all the way around its body. The only place it
can’t see is directly behind its head. So don’t
approach a horse from the rear—that’s the only
direction it can’t see you coming!
Kiosk Buttons:
Monocular
Binocular
Human
Binocular Vision Screen
BINOCULAR VISION
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American Museum of Natural History – The Horse
TH_me_5-2-0_BiologyOfTheHorse_SCRIPT - Script
Seeing an object with two eyes, instead of just one,
greatly improves vision. But since a horse’s eyes
point out to the side, the area that both eyes can
see at once is fairly small. Looking at something
with two eyes helps determine how far away it is.
Horses can see in more directions than people can,
because their eyes look sideways and backwards.
But humans have better depth perception, because
both eyes face forward.
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Human Binocular Vision Screen
HUMAN VISION
Human eyes face forward, so we cannot look to the
side or behind us, as a horse can. But we have
better depth perception, because we see more
things with both eyes at once. Humans can also look
up and down easier than a horse can. A horse must
raise its head to look up and lower its head to look
down.
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American Museum of Natural History – The Horse
TH_me_5-2-0_BiologyOfTheHorse_SCRIPT - Script
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EARS INTRO
Ears: video wall screen
Ears can turn toward sounds.
Ears: kiosk intro screen - hearing
EARS
Horses can move each ear independently. Each ear
can turn almost 180 degrees, because horses have
ten different muscles in their ears, compared to just
three for humans. Their directional hearing keeps
horses alert to danger from any direction.
buttons
TOUCH and drag the sliders to turn the horse’s ears.
Ears: kiosk screen – emotions
EARS AND MOODS
Horses can’t talk—but they can express quite a lot
with their ears, which they can move into many
different positions. Other parts of their body can
communicate a great deal as well. For instance, a
horse might swish its tail when irritated, hold its tail
high when excited and hang its tail when
submissive, tired, afraid or in pain.
A slider moves the horse’s ears into various
positions, revealing a sentence of explanatory text.
Touch and drag to see what a horse’s ears might be
telling you.
[revealed text]
ALERT: The ears are held up stiffly facing forward
when the horse is alert.
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American Museum of Natural History – The Horse
TH_me_5-2-0_BiologyOfTheHorse_SCRIPT - Script
CALM: When in a relaxed or neutral position, the
ears face forward and outward.
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Sad: When the ears droop down, a horse may be
very tired, sick or in pain.
ANGRY: If the ears are pinned back flat against the
neck, a horse is aggressive and threatening to
attack.
ATTENTIVE: When the ears point back toward the
rider, the horse is attentive and ready to respond to
a command.
Button to return to hearing screen:
Back to ears
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American Museum of Natural History – The Horse
TH_me_5-2-0_BiologyOfTheHorse_SCRIPT - Script
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DIGESTION INTRO
[ON WALL]
An animation follows food through the entire
digestive system.
[Step 1]
MOUTH
Chews and moistens food
ESOPHAGUS
Carries food to stomach
[Step 2]
STOMACH
Liquefies food and begins digesting proteins
SMALL INTESTINE
Digests and absorbs carbohydrates, fats and
proteins
[Step 3]
CECUM
Bacteria break down cellulose from plants into
digestible nutrients.
CECUM
This fermentation chamber lets horses eat plants
humans cannot digest.
[Step 4]
LARGE COLON
Absorbs water and nutrients produced by
fermentation
SMALL COLON
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American Museum of Natural History – The Horse
TH_me_5-2-0_BiologyOfTheHorse_SCRIPT - Script
Shapes fecal matter into balls
ANUS
Expels waste matter
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American Museum of Natural History – The Horse
TH_me_5-2-0_BiologyOfTheHorse_SCRIPT - Script
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Video Wall – leg mechanics intro
Horse/Human Homologies
Intro—upper left of screen:
Mechanics of the Horse Leg [HEY, MAYBE WE
COULD CUT NOT JUST THE TEXT THAT USED TO GO
AT THE TOP OF THE SCREEN, BUT THIS TITLE AS
WELL!!! THEN WE’D ONLY HAVE CALLOUTS, LIKE
WITH VISION.]
Person walks beside horse. Callouts compare
homologous parts of hind leg:
pelvis ------- pelvis
knee -------- stifle
ankle ------- hock
Optional: perhaps label femur and tibia both, but
without lines?
Person walks away and new callouts appear:
Text near upper leg:
The large muscles are all near the top.
Text near hock:
The lower leg has no muscle, making it lighter.
Text near cannon bone:
The lower leg is a modified foot.
Text near hoof:
The horse stands on a single, large toe.
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American Museum of Natural History – The Horse
TH_me_5-2-0_BiologyOfTheHorse_SCRIPT - Script
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[ON KIOSK]
KIOSK INTRO TEXT:
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM &
MECHANICS OF THE LEGS
Horses are big and strong, yet incredibly mobile,
able to walk and eat all day without ever sitting to
rest. Touch the screen to see how special
adaptations to their legs and digestive system help
horses eat, run and rest with remarkable efficiency.
KIOSK DIGESTION SCREEN INTRO
What makes horses so useful to humans? Their
speed, their endurance—and their digestive system.
One reason horses are so mobile is that they can
“eat and run.” Horses don’t need to sit and rest to
digest, like cows and camels do. And their digestive
system is smaller and lighter, which makes it easier
to run.
Read more 
COMPARED TO COWS
Cows and other grazers called ruminants have four
stomach chambers, in which the cellulose in grass is
fermented and broken down into digestible
nutrients. Ruminants sit and rest to digest, while
horses can walk and graze all day, making them
more useful for human transportation.
 Read more 
COMPARED TO COWS
The horse’s fermentation chamber does not get
quite as many nutrients out of plants as cows can—
but because food passes through a horse much
faster than a cow, the horse’s digestive system is
less bulky and is less of a hindrance to running.
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American Museum of Natural History – The Horse
TH_me_5-2-0_BiologyOfTheHorse_SCRIPT - Script
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 Read more 
COMPARED TO HUMANS
Humans cannot digest cellulose, the primary
carbohydrate in plants. Horses have a large
fermentation chamber called a cecum, which lets
them digest cellulose. Instead of a cecum humans
have just a tiny appendix, which does not help
digest cellulose.
FEED THE HORSE [button]
This button initiates entire animated sequence from
beginning to end. During sequence, three more
buttons appear that allow visitors to jump to steps
2, 3, and 4 in the process.
Touch the screen to return to any part of the
digestion process.
FEED THE HORSE
BEGIN DIGESTION
FERMENT GRASS
RELEASE WASTE
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American Museum of Natural History – The Horse
TH_me_5-2-0_BiologyOfTheHorse_SCRIPT - Script
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LEG MECHANICS (ELASTIC RECOIL AND PASSIVE
STAY)
Leg mechanics intro
MECHANICS OF THE LEGS
Horse legs have special adaptations that help horses
save energy as they run—and as they rest. Touch
the screen to see how the springs in their legs help
horses run without tiring, and how the locking knee
or stifle joint lets horses rest standing up.
Elastic recoil intro:
SPRING LIGAMENTS
With each step, a running horse launches its body
into the air—and slams back to earth. The energy of
these impacts is stored in springy tendons and
ligaments in its legs. They stretch and spring back
like rubber bands, helping launch the next step.
Thanks to the springs in its legs, a horse literally
bounces as it runs, so the muscles do less work.
Callouts tied to specific moments in stride:
Hoof slams into ground
Fetlock joint bends
Tendons and ligaments stretch, storing energy
Tendons and ligaments spring back, helping launch
next step
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American Museum of Natural History – The Horse
TH_me_5-2-0_BiologyOfTheHorse_SCRIPT - Script
Kiosk: Locking Knee Intro
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LOCKING LEG
Try standing with your knees bent for a few
minutes—your thigh muscles will quickly tire. Horses
cannot straighten their legs—yet they can stand for
more than twenty hours a day. How do they do it?
Horses can lock their knee or stifle joint. This lets
them rest their leg muscles—and even sleep—
standing up.
TOUCH AND DRAG THE SLIDER TO LOCK THE
HORSE’S LEG
A video shows the passive stay mechanism locking
and unlocking. Visitors can slide back and forth
through the animation. At each step callouts explain
what’s happening.
The animation shows two views: a side view of the
entire leg, and a closeup of the patella and patellar
ligaments sliding up and looping over the medial
trochlear ridge.
Callouts for locking knee animation
The kneecap is attached to the tibia by three
ligaments.
ID labels:
kneecap
tibia
The kneecap is lifted and hooked over a bump on
the femur.
ID label:
femur
The joint is now locked. When the kneecap can’t
move, the ligaments keep the joint from bending.
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American Museum of Natural History – The Horse
TH_me_5-2-0_BiologyOfTheHorse_SCRIPT - Script
[patellar ligaments show strain as horse’s weight
settles.]
When the upper joint is locked, a cable of muscle
and tendon stops the lower joint from bending as
well.
[superficial digital flexor shows strain as horse’s
weight settles.]
To unlock the leg, the thigh muscles unhook the
kneecap and ligaments, and the joints can move
again.
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