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| Animal Encyclopedia: Przewalski's horse |
Equus caballus przewalskii
TAXONOMY
Equus ferus przewalskii (Groves, 1986).
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Przewalski's wild horse, Asiatic wild horse, Mongolian wild horse, tahki.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Shoulder height 49–58 in (124–146 cm); weight 772 lb (350 kg). Is a medium-sized, long-legged, hoofed ungulate. During the summer months, its coat is short and reddish-brown. During the colder winter months, hairs grow thicker and longer and provide good insulation. They have erect manes and the top of the tail has short hairs. The muzzle is white with dark gray around the nostrils and on the lips.
DISTRIBUTION
Extinct in the Wild; it has been reintroduced to Hustain Nuruu and Takhin Tal in Mongolia.
HABITAT
Last observed in the arid cold steppes of the Gobi desert. It may have also lived in the more mesic Eurasian steppes.
BEHAVIOR
Social organization and mating system is a stable family (harem) group that is composed of one male and several females and their offspring. Young males form bachelor groups. Dispersal of young males and females from their natal groups occurs 12.5–30.5 months.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Feed primarily on available grasses.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Polygamous. Reaches puberty at two to three years of age. Foaling is seasonal from April–August, with a significant peak in May. The age of first foaling is 4.5 years. In females over the age of five years, natality ranges 56–100%.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Extinct in the Wild; they are being reintroduced at several sites in Mongolia. Threats that contributed to their extinction were hunting for food, reduced access to water sources, loss of habitat and competition for water and forage with domestic livestock, and zoological capture expeditions. Currently, a major threat is loss of genetic diversity.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
The Przewalski's horse is of great significance to the government and people of Mongolia. Concerned individuals and governments from Holland, Switzerland, and France are donating significant time, energy, and funds to make the re-introduction of the Przewalski's horse into the wild a reality.
| Common name / Scientific name/Other common names | Physical characteristics | Habitat and behavior | Distribution | Diet | Conservation status |
| Domestic horse Equus caballus caballus English: Mustang; Spanish: Caballo | Stocky with short legs, short neck, massive head, long face, and powerful jaw. Eyes are set far back in skull, ears are long and erect. Stiff, erect, black mane, slender legs. Coloration is reddish brown, belly is yellowish white. Tail hairs are of graduated lengths. Head and body length 84 in (210 cm), tail length 36 in (90 cm). | Originally found in grassy deserts and plains in Western Mongolia, and reported to have lived at elevations of up to 8,000 ft (2,438 m). Not territorial. Social groups consist of only stallions or stallions and one or more mares. One offspring produced every two years. | Domestic horses occur worldwide. | Consumes mainly grass, plants and fruit. It sometimes eats bark, leaves and buds. | Not threatened |
| Quagga Equus quagga | Coloration is made up of various dark bands covering the body. However, less pronounced than in other zebras, and at times found with no stripes. Head and body length 78.7–94.5 in (200–240 cm), tail length 18.5–22.4 in (47–57 cm), weight 771.6 lb (350 kg). | Could often be found in arid to temperate grasslands, and sometimes wetter pastures. Lived in herds that contained life-long family members. Mainly diurnal, very family- and safety-oriented, always having a lookout, keeping track of members, and keeping pace with the slowest in the pack. | Formerly found in South Africa. | Frequently ate from tall grass vegetation or possibly wet pastures. | Extinct |
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Przewalski's horse |
The horse was first recognized as a separate species by Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky, a Russian explorer and geographer, in the 1870s. In the 1960s the horse became extinct in the wild, largely due to competition with domestic livestock for grazing land and water and to hunting for horsemeat, but many specimens survived in zoos, where they breed well. Beginning in 1992, the horse was reintroduced to several locations in Mongolia and Kazakhstan using animals bred in European zoos.
Tarpan is the name for members of another race of the same species, E. ferus gmelini or E. caballus gmelini, which formerly ranged over the steppes of E Europe and W Asia, but has been extinct since the last century. Attempts have been made to breed back a tarpan-like horse from domestic horses believed to have been interbred with tarpans.
Wild horses are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Perissodactyla, family Equidae.
| Science Q&A: What is Przewalski's horse? |
This native of Mongolia and northeastern China is the last truly wild horse species. Named for Nikolai Przewalski (1839-1888), the Russian colonel who reported its existence in 1870, Przewalski's horse (Equus przewalskii) is a stocky, short-legged animal with a dun-colored coat, a pale muzzle and belly, and dark legs, mane, and tail. Its short mane is bristly and erect. This horse has the unusual feature of possessing 66 chromosomes rather than the customary 64 found in a domestic horse. Przewalski's horse was believed to have become extinct in the wild in 1968. However, 1,000 or so survived in zoos and wildlife parks.
In June 1994, a small herd bred in captivity was returned to the wild in Mongolia. They were kept in large enclosures for two years while they adjusted to the harsh climate. The herd is now flourishing and is expected to survive in the wild.
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| Veterinary Dictionary: Przewalski's horse |
A primitive dun-colored pony with a dark dorsal stripe and zebra markings on the legs, 12.1 to 14 hands high. Called also Mongolian wild horse.
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| Wikipedia: Przewalski's Horse |
| Przewalski's Horse | |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Equidae |
| Genus: | Equus |
| Subgenus: | Equus |
| Species: | E. ferus |
| Subspecies: | E. f. przewalskii |
| Trinomial name | |
| Equus ferus przewalskii (Poliakov, 1881) |
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| Range map | |
| Synonyms | |
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hagenbecki Matschie, 1903 |
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Przewalski's Horse (Equus ferus przewalskii, Mongolian: Тахь, Takhi[2]; Chinese: 野马 Yehmah/Yěmǎ[3]), or Dzungarian Horse, is a rare and endangered subspecies of wild horse (Equus ferus) native to the steppes of central Asia. In China, the last wild Przewalski's horses were seen in 1966. The Przewalski's Horse Reintroduction Project of China was initiated in 1985 with the creation of the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding Center. At one time extinct in the wild, it has been reintroduced to its native habitat in Mongolia at the Khustain Nuruu National Park, Takhin Tal Nature Reserve and Khomiin Tal.[1] The taxonomic position is still debated, and some taxonomists treat Przewalski's Horse as a species, Equus przewalskii.
Common names for this equine include Asian Wild Horse and Mongolian Wild Horse. Historical but obsolete names include true tarpan[4] and Mongolian tarpan. In English, Przewalski is pronounced /ʃɨˈvælskiː/ or /zɨˈvɑːlskiː/ (the Polish pronunciation is [pʂɛˈvalski]). The horse is named after the Russian geographer and explorer Nikolai Przhevalsky.
Most "wild" horses today, such as the American Mustang or the Australian Brumby, are actually feral horses descended from domesticated animals that escaped and adapted to life in the wild. In contrast, Przewalski's Horse has never been successfully domesticated and remains a truly wild animal today. Przewalski's Horse is one of two known subspecies of Equus ferus, the other being the extinct Tarpan (Equus ferus ferus). The Przewalski's Horse is considered the only remaining truly wild "horse" in the world and may be the closest living wild relative of the domesticated horse, Equus caballus. There are still a number of other wild equines, including three species of zebra and various subspecies of the African wild ass, onager and kiang.
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The Przewalski's Horse was described in 1881 by L.S. Poliakov. The taxonomic position of Przewalski's Horse has always been problematic and no consensus exists whether it is a full species (Equus przewalskii), a subspecies of the wild horse (Equus ferus przewalskii) or even a sub-population of the domesticated horse (Equus caballus).[5][6][7] Studies using DNA have been inconclusive, in part due to crossing domestic horses into the Przewalski's Horse as well as the limited genetic variation present in the founder population of the Przewalski's Horse. A recent molecular studies using ancient DNA (that is DNA recovered from archaeological finds like bones and teeth) places the Przewalski's Horse in the middle of the domesticated horses,[7] but no definitive answers have been given.
The world population of these horses are all descended from 9 of the 31 horses in captivity in 1945.[8] These nine horses were mostly descended from approximately 15 captured around 1900. A cooperative venture between the Zoological Society of London and Mongolian scientists has resulted in successful reintroduction of these horses from zoos into their natural habitat in Mongolia; and as of 2005 there is a free-ranging population of 248 animals in the wild. The total number of these horses according to a 2005 census was about 1,500.[9]
Przewalski's Horse is stockily built in comparison to domesticated horses, with shorter legs. Typical height is about 13 hands (1.32 m), length is about 2.1 m with a 90 cm tail. They weigh around 300 kilograms (660 lb). The coat is similar to dun coloration in domestic horses. It varies from dark brown around the mane (which stands erect) to pale brown on the flanks and yellowish-white on the belly. The legs of Przewalski's Horse are often faintly striped.[10]
In the wild, Przewalski's Horses live in social groups consisting of a dominant stallion, a dominant lead mare, other mares, and their offspring. The patterns of their daily lives exhibit horse behavior similar to that of feral horse herds: Each group has a well-defined home range; within the range, the herd travels between three and six miles a day, spending time grazing, drinking, using salt licks and dozing. At night, the herd clusters and sleeps for about four hours. Ranges of different herds may overlap without conflict, as the stallions are more protective of their mares than their territory.
Stallions practice a form of scent marking and will establish piles of dung at intervals along routes they normally travel to warn other males of their presence. In addition, when a female in the herd urinates, the stallion will frequently urinate in the same place, to signal her membership in the herd to other males. The stallions can frequently be seen sniffing dung piles to confirm scent markings.[citation needed]
In the 15th century, Johann Schiltberger recorded one of the first European sightings of the horses in the journal of his trip to Mongolia as a prisoner of the Mongol Khan.[11] The horse is named after the Russian colonel Nikolai Przhevalsky (1839–1888) (the name is of Polish origin, and "Przewalski" is the Polish spelling). He was an explorer and naturalist who described the horse in 1881, after having gone on an expedition to find it, based on rumors of its existence. Many of these horses were captured around 1900 by Carl Hagenbeck and placed in zoos. As noted above, about twelve to fifteen reproduced and formed today's population.
The native population declined in the 20th century due to a combination of factors, with the wild population in Mongolia dying out in the 1960s. The last herd was sighted in 1967 and the last individual horse in 1969. Expeditions after this failed to locate any horses, and the species was designated "extinct in the wild" for over 30 years.
After 1945 only two captive populations in zoos remained, in Munich and in Prague. The most valuable group, in Askania Nova, Ukraine, was shot by German soldiers during World War II occupation, and the group in the USA had died out.
In 1977, the Foundation for the Preservation and Protection of the Przewalski Horse was founded in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, by Jan and Inge Bouman, which started a program of exchange between captive populations in zoos throughout the world to reduce inbreeding, and later starting a breeding program of its own. In 1992, sixteen horses were released into the wild in Mongolia, followed by additional animals later on. One of the areas to which they were reintroduced became Khustain Nuruu National Park in 1998.
The reintroduced horses successfully reproduced, and the status of the animal was changed from "extinct in the wild" to "endangered" in 2005.[9] On the IUCN Red List, they were reclassified from "extinct in the wild" to "critically endangered" after a reassessment in 2008.[12]
While dozens of zoos worldwide have Przewalski's Horses in small numbers, there are also specialized reserves dedicated primarily to the species.
The world's largest captive breeding program for Przewalski's horses is at the Askania Nova preserve in Ukraine. Several dozen Przewalski's horses were also released in the area evacuated after the Chernobyl accident, which now serves as a deserted de facto natural preserve.[13] An intensely researched population of free-ranging animals was also introduced to the Hortobágy puszta in Hungary; data on social structure, behavior, and diseases gathered from these animals is used to improve the Mongolian conservation effort.
Recent advances in equine reproductive science have potential to further preserve and expand the gene pool. In October, 2007 scientists at the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoo successfully reversed a vasectomy on a Przewalski horse — the first operation of its kind on this species and possibly the first ever on any endangered species. While normally a vasectomy may be performed on an endangered animal under limited circumstances, particularly if an individual has already produced many offspring and its genes are overrepresented in the population, scientists realized the animal in question was one of the most genetically valuable Przewalski horses in the North American breeding program.[14]
The Przewalski's Horse Reintroduction Project of China was initiated in 1985 when the country introduced 11 wild horses from overseas. After more than two decades of dedicated efforts, the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding Center managed to breed a large number of the horses, of which 55 were let loose into the Kalamely Mountain area. The animals quickly adapted to their new environment. In 1988, six foals were born and survived. In 2001 there were over 100 horses at the center. Now both their reproduction rate and survival rate are the highest in the world.[citation needed]
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This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
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 | Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Animal Encyclopedia. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Copyright © 2005 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Science Q&A. The Handy Science Answer Book. 2003 ©Visible Ink Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved. Read more |
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