Horses can grow mustaches.

You’d be hard-pressed to find any horse that can paint quite as well as Salvador Dalí, but there are some breeds that give Dalí a run for his money when it comes to sporting a bushy upper lip. While all horses grow hairs of varying thickness around their snouts, these thicker mustaches are primarily present in breeds that originated in the cold weather environments of the British Isles, such as Gypsy Vanners, Shires, and Clydesdales.

While there’s no identifiable gene responsible for this equine facial feature, it’s present in males as well as mustachioed mares. Unlike humans, horses don’t grow ’staches for vanity, but rather for both insulation and to enhance their sensory abilities. These sensitive lip hairs are known as vibrissae, and whether thin or thick, they provide tactile information, allowing for the detection of objects found in blind spots or low-light conditions.