Since the Book of Mormon's first printing in 1830, anti-Mormons have taken main issue with 1 Nephi 18:25, which reads, "And it came to pass that we did find upon the land of promise [the Americas], as we journeyed in the wilderness, that there were beasts in the forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse . . ." The anti-Mormons claim that horses were brought over by the European explorers and did not exist here before that time. Science, however, fully vindicates the Truth of God. From the 6 June 2011 issue of the Daily Herald, we read concerning the Mustang breed of horses,
The group In Defense of Animals and others are pressing a case in the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals that maintains wild horses roamed the West about 1.5 million years ago and didn't disappear until as recently as 7,600 years ago. More importantly, they say, a growing stockpile of DNA evidence shows conclusively that today's horses are genetically linked to those ancient ancestors. . . . Rachel Fazio, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told a three-judge appellate panel in San Francisco earlier this year that the horses are "an integral part of the environment. As much as the B[ureau of] L[and] M[anagement] would like to see them as not, they are actually a native species. They are tied to this land. There would not be a horse but for North America. Every single evolutionary iteration of the horse is found here and only here." . . . Jay F. Kirkpatrick, a leader in horse reproduction research who directs ZooMontana's Science and Conservation Center is Billings, MT, is among those who say BLM's view is outdated. "On the face of the science, it is just absolutely incorrect. It wasn't the predominant horse on the continent, but it was here. It is native to North America."
We also have this encyclopedia article as more evidence of horses in ancient America, and why the Spanish did not find horses in South America when they arrived:
Fossil remains of true horses, differing but very slightly from the smaller and inferior breeds of those now existing, are found abundantly in deposits of the most recent geological age, in almost every part of America, from Escholz Bay in the north to Patagonia in the South. In that continent however, they became quite extinct, and no horses, either wild or domesticated, existed there at the time of the Spanish conquest, which is the most remarkable as, when introduced from Europe the horses that ran wild proved by their rapid multiplication in the plains of South America and Texas that the climate, food, and other circumstances were highly favorable for their existence. The former great abundance of Equidae in America, their complete extinction, and their perfect acclimatization when reintroduced by man, form curious but as yet unsolved problems in geographical
distribution.’ (New Americanized Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, p. 3197)
These evidences are good enough for me, fulfilling the scripture which saith, "God sendeth more witnesses, and he proveth all his words. (2 Nephi 11:3)" I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and that this scientific finding corroborates the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Truly science and theology agree. This is my testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
