Notes
1. Such as Alma 18: 9, Alma 18: 12, Alma 20: 6, 3 Ne. 3: 22
2. R.J.G. Savage & M.R. Long, Mammal evolution, an illustrated guide (1986, Facts on File, pg. 202):
"...although the true horses had themselves also by then died out in Europe and Asia, they survived in
North America and from there they continued to evolve."
3. Guthrie, R. Dale. "Rapid body size decline in Alaskan Pleistocene horses before extinction".
Nature.http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v426/n6963/abs/nature02098.html. Retrieved 2006-1210.

"Late Pleistocene Horse (Equus sp.) from
the Wilson-Leonard Archaeological Site, Central Texas" (PDF).
4. Baker, Barry W.; Collins, Michael B., Bousman, C. Britt.

http://www.txstate.edu/anthropology/cas/journal_articles/crp.pdf. Retrieved 2006-12-10.
5. R. Dale Guthrie, New carbon dates link climatic change with human colonization and Pleistocene
extinctions, Nature 441 (11 May 2006), 207-209.
6. Kirkpatrick, Jay F.; Fazio, Patricia M.. "Wild Horses as Native North American
Wildlife".http://www.saplonline.org/wild_horses_native.htm#_ftn2. Retrieved 2006-12-10.
7. Singer, Ben. "A brief history of the horse in America; Horse phylogeny and evolution". Canadian
Geographic
Magazine.http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/Magazine/ma05/indepth/#spanish.
Retrieved 2009-10-30.

LDS Church Response: We regret that we could not find this issue answered by the LDS church in any church
publication or web site. However we found two basic responses from LDS apologists. References are provided so
readers can review the apologetic responses in detail.
1. Scientists just haven't found the evidence yet.
Reference: wikipedia - Book of Mormon anachronisms:
Apologists assert that there is fossil evidence that some New World horses may have survived the
Pleistocene–Holocene transition, though these findings are disputed by critics.
Mormon FARMS apologist Robert R. Bennett stated that as a comparison the famed horses of the Huns
did not leave an archeological trace yet numbered in the thousands. He also points out the limited
evidence of lions in Palestine:
"The biblical narrative mentions lions, yet it was not until very recently that the only other evidence for lions
in Palestine was pictographic or literary. Before the announcement in a 1988 publication of two bone
samples, there was no archaeological evidence to confirm the existence of lions in that region."

2. The horse mentioned in the BOM isn't really a horse.
Reference: Neal A. Maxwell Institute:
Is "horse" in the Book of Mormon merely a matter of labeling by analogy some other quadruped with the
name Equus, the true horse, or does the scripture's use of "horse" refer to the actual survival into very
recent times of the American Pleistocene horse (Equus equus)? If, as most zoologists and paleontologists
assume, Equus equus was absent from the New World during Book of Mormon times, could deer, tapir, or
another quadruped have been termed "horse" by Joseph Smith in his translating?
John L. Sorenson has suggested the latter possibility and has pointed to archaeological specimens
showing humans riding on the backs of animal figures, some of which are evidently deer. Also Mayan
languages used the term deer for Spanish horses and deer-rider for horsemen. Indians of Zinacantan,
Chiapas, believe that the mythical "Earth Owner," who is supposed to be rich and live inside a mountain,
rides on deer.In addition, the Aztec account of the Spanish Conquest used terms like the-deer-whichcarried-men-upon-their-backs, called horses.

Critic's Rebuttal: The first apologist argument that they did not find archeological evidence of lions in Palestine until
very recently is not applicable since pictographic and literary evidence of horses in the New World (outside of the
Book of Mormon) is unknown. There were writings and drawings of lions in Palestine and horses used by the Huns
yet there are no writings or drawings of any modern-day horses by the natives of the Americas. The Native Americans
had absolutely no knowledge of horses until Columbus and the Spaniards introduced them to the New World.