The national animal of San Marino is the horse. This is an animal that everyone in the world should be familiar with. They have been integral to human development and of huge importance to European history. They continue to hold symbolic significance for the people of San Marino.
The horse is a very important animal in San Marino for a wide variety of reasons, and they have always played some role in the history of the nation and the people who lived in the region.
It’s a simple and straightforward choice of national animal which nonetheless reflects a great deal about the history of the nation.
Let’s find out more.
What is the national animal of San Marino?
The national animal of San Marino is the horse.
This is a domesticated, hoofed mammal with one toe, and is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus.
This animal is among the most integral to human history and has played an incalculable role in the development of human civilization.
Though it is important to remember that horses were not found everywhere and many cultures reached a point of significant development without them, in Europe they were of immense importance to the way that society developed.
Thus, there are many reasons it was chosen as the national animal of San Marino.
Naturally, one of their most important adaptations is their ability to run.
They can quickly escape predators and can both accelerate quickly and run very fast.
They have an incredible sense of balance, too, which often helps them to escape by preventing them from falling over.
They are even able to sleep standing up.
The horse today, then, is a domesticated species, and the other subspecies of their group is the wild horse.
The national animal of San Marino is the domesticated variety.
Breeds can obviously vary a great deal in just about every feature, but horses generally have a life expectancy of around 25 to 30 years—in most racing contexts, they will not race much past the age of about ten.
One horse known as Old Billy in the 19th Century is reliably recorded to have lived for 62 years.
As mentioned they are good at fleeing and have a strong fight-or-flight response.
They will typically flee from danger when startled, though they can also defend themselves and their young if cornered.
They have a powerful kick which can be deadly even to large predators.
Why is the horse the national animal of San Marino?
The horse is the national animal of San Marino for a variety of reasons.
On the one hand, they are seen as important symbols of many aspects of the country’s values.
They embody strength, pride, courage and unity; they are large and powerful creatures that do very well in large groups or herds.
This reflects these values as they are seen to the people of San Marino, and so the horse is a perfect candidate for the country’s national animal.
Again, they are of course also very important historically in Europe as a whole, and without them, European society would have looked very different.
On the other hand, they are seen simply as reflections of San Marino’s natural beauty.
They are a common sight in the country trails used for hobby riding and things like that, and thus they are seen as inextricable from the nation’s physical landscape.
This, too, is a very important aspect of why they were chosen as the national animal.
Few animals, though, hold the same symbolic and literal significance of the horse, though—so you may get a very different answer to this question depending on whom you ask.
When were horses first domesticated?
It’s believed that horses were first domesticated around 6,000 years ago in the Eurasian steppe.
Horses in that part of the world are still of incomparable importance to many of the people who live there.
But as time went on, the horse would be adopted by just about every society that it came into contact with and was the primary beast of burden and mount of just about every culture in Europe.
Again, it is very hard to overstate the historical importance of this animal in many countries including San Marino.
Without them, the society may never have developed as we know it.
Is San Marino a country or a city?
San Marino is a country. It is the fifth smallest country in the world, a mountainous microstate which is found in the north-centre of Italy.
Indeed it is one of the world’s oldest republics today, and though small, has a very strong economy and one of the highest GDP per capita wealth in the world.
Naturally, a city would not have a national animal.
So, San Marino is indeed a country in its own right.
It has a population of around 33,000 people, so again it is obviously smaller than many of the world’s smaller cities, but nonetheless, it is a country in and of itself.
So, again, though the horse itself is so important to humanity all over the world that it is very hard to reduce its importance to any one particular image or symbol, there are specific things about horses that are very important to the history and modern culture of San Marino.
Horses are a straightforward choice of national animal that reflects on the simple life that can be found in the nation.