New Jersey State Animal: Horse

Horse

(Equus caballus)

Adopted on August 14, 1977.

Two students, one in the fifth grade and one in the eighth grade, were responsible for making the horse, Equus caballus, New Jersey's State animal in 1977. Representing power and strength, the horse is included on the State seal. It was also very important in making New Jersey farming successful. Today, raising and racing horses are very popular in New Jersey. The state animal is the horse, Equus caballus, so designated in Chapter 173 of the Laws of 1977. Governor Brendan T. Byrne signed the law August 14, 1977, while attending the farm and horse show at Augusta, Sussex County.

Press Release, Office of the Governor, August 15, 1977

The US Equestrian Team is headquartered in New Jersey.

Chapter 173, Laws of 1977
Approved: 8-14-77

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced December 13, 1976

By Senators GARRAMONE, FELDMAN, DODD, DUMONT, GREENBERG, RUSSO,
SKEVIN, SCARDINO, MERLINO, HAGEDORN, WALLWORK, BUEHLER, IMPERIALE,
AMMOND, ORECHIO, LIPMAN, MARTINDELL, ERRICHETTI, DUNN, ZANE,
DAVENPORT, VREELAND, DWYER and HIRKALA

Referred to Committee on State Government, Federal
and Interstate Relations and Veterans Affairs

An Act designating the horse as the New Jersey State Animal.

BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of the State
of New Jersey:

1. The horse (Equus Caballus) is designated as the New Jersey
State Animal.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

The horse is a large stately herbivorous animal. Horses have
been useful to man since prehistoric times. The founding fathers of
this State thought so highly of the horse that they included it in
the State seal.

The horse industry makes a contribution to the preservation of
green acres at a time when great demands are being made for the use
of our land. There are 4,654 horse farms in New Jersey, of which
888 raise racing horses. There are now more than 38,000 horses in
the State, compared to 18,000 in 1961.

The horse is truly deserving of the title -- New Jersey State Animal.

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom

Animalia -- animals

Phylum

Chordata -- chordates

Subphylum

Vertebrata -- vertebrates

Class

Mammalia

Order

Perissodactyla

Family

Equidae

Genus

Equs

Species

caballus

Mammals are one group of animals. Bears, monkeys and dolphins are mammals. So are humans. But what makes a mammal a mammal?

an·i·mal (ān'ə-məl)
n.

1. A multicellular organism of the kingdom Animalia, differing from plants in certain typical characteristics such as capacity for locomotion, nonphotosynthetic metabolism, pronounced response to stimuli, restricted growth, and fixed bodily structure.
2. An animal organism other than a human, especially a mammal.

mam·mal (mām'əl)
n.

Any of various warm-blooded vertebrate animals of the class Mammalia, including humans, characterized by a covering of hair on the skin and, in the female, milk-producing mammary glands for nourishing the young.

State Animals and Mammals