Przewalski's horse is the only wild horse in nature. The first to meet her for the first time was the Russian researcher and geographer N. M. Przhevalsky in 1878, and this species was described by the zoologist Polyakov in 1881. The number of animals today is about 2 thousand individuals.
Variety
It is known for certain that the only representative of the modern kind of horses is eucus. In appearance, it resembled a zebra - the same stripes on the body, a short mane. Three clan branches formed from it - the steppe tarpan, the forest tarpan and the Przhevalsky horse. The first two became extinct at the dawn of the 20th century, and only the last species has survived to this day.
Nobody can accurately answer 100% whether this species is wild or not. Some experts attribute it to the wild, others, in particular paleogenetics, argue that this is a descendant of the Botai horses, which went wild.
Botay horses are the first sedentary steppe mares in the village of Botai, located in Northern Kazakhstan.
Breed history
The first to meet a representative of this species was the above-mentioned naturalist, Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky. Going on a trip to Asia, reaching the inaccessible terrain of Dzungaria, located on the border of Northern China and Mongolia, he met a herd of horses hitherto unknown to Europeans.
Locals called them "tahs", translated into Russian, this means "yellow horse". Their habitat was wide, horses could be found on the vast territory of the steppes from Kazakhstan to northern Mongolia. From the expedition, the scientist brought the skull and skin of an animal, which was presented to him by a merchant, who in turn received them from a Kyrgyz hunter. It was on these materials that Polyakov described an unknown animal and gave it a name - Przhevalsky's horse.
Over the century from the beginning of the opening, the horse’s range began to rapidly narrow - to one region of Eastern Altai, as well as its number. Why? A set of factors played here:
- extermination of animals by nomads;
- a drought that lasted a very long time;
- other animals began to drive them out of their pastures;
- low ability to adapt to new conditions, which negatively affected the reproduction.
If it was untimely human intervention, then perhaps we would not have seen this bizarre horse alive, and it would have joined the ranks of extinct animals such as tarpan or savannah zebra - quagga.
Exterior
This animal is recognizable, once seen once it is not confused with anyone. And all because it has a primitive appearance, that is, it retained the features of a horse and a donkey.
It is painted in camouflage sand color with a brown tint (savras), but the suspension (mane and tail), the lower part of the legs almost always have a black color. The abdominal part and end of the muzzle are light, the nose is “mealy”, that is, in its area the hairs are painted white, it seems that the animal poked its nose into the flour.
In summer, the coat is short, its color is much brighter than in winter. But in the cold season it is thicker and longer, a warm undercoat is formed. The mane is erect, short and stiff, resembles a trimmed mohawk or brush. The tail in the upper part is covered with short hair and ends with a “brush”, which almost reaches the ground. The tail resembles the features of the tail of a donkey or kulan. This horse does not have bangs. A black “belt” is visible on the back.
On the large head are small eyes wide. The body is stocky and dense. Short, sturdy legs help the animal develop a great speed at a gallop.
These are small-sized horses:
- the length of the body does not exceed two meters;
- height 135 cm, maximum 1.5 meters;
- the average weight is not more than 350 kg, but heavy individuals with a mass of 400 kg are also found.
Ears of small size are mobile and sensitive. The animal feels the enemy at a great distance, thanks to its excellent sense of smell and sensitive hearing. They are used to keeping their ears open.
Until recently, one could hear the claim that this wild horse is none other than the ancestor of a domestic horse. However, all the dots on the “and” genetic scientists. After conducting a series of studies, they found that when there are 64 chromosomes in domestic horses, the wild representative has 66, that is, according to the genetic code, these species are unrelated.
The life span of an animal is 20–25 years.
Lifestyle
Although they almost never occur in nature (the last time they were seen in the Mongolian steppe in 1969) and live permanently in captivity, horses have not lost their habits and wild temper. These are strong and hardy individuals, often coming out victorious in fights with domestic stallions.
The animal lives in a herd of 5-10 females with cubs, and their adult stallion leads them. And also the herd can consist of young "single" stallions. Males who have lost power over their harem join them. Old horses that are not able to cover their "harem" spend the rest of their lives alone.
The herd is constantly moving around the area, looking for food and water, at a leisurely pace or trot, but sensing danger in the vicinity, it goes to a gallop and speeds up to 50 km / h, running small distances. The herd is led by an experienced mare, and the alpha male closes it.
They graze in the morning or evening, when dusk sets in. In the daytime they prefer to relax, doze off in an elevated area, since while the mares and foals lie and rest, the stallion walks around and inspects the surroundings, and from the elevation the view opens well and the enemy is noticeable at a great distance. If the male sensed danger, he emits an alarm and leads the herd. They also eat. While some “have lunch”, several horses are “on guard”, and then the animals change roles.
Their only natural enemies are wolves and cougars. A flock of predators, attacking a herd, seeks to divide it and kills weaker animals - young, old or sick individuals. However, a healthy, strong horse can kill a wolf or a cat with one blow of a hoof. When threatened, the herd forms a ring. Animals stand with their heads to the center of the circle in which the cubs are located, and their main weapon - strong hind legs are directed towards the enemy.
In the reserves, horses live and behave in the same way as in natural conditions, but feed on local plants.
In the zoo, they often suffer from a lack of movement, because in nature the herd moves, is in constant motion. Even when creating comfortable conditions in captivity, the area of the enclosure does not provide such space as in the wild or in nature reserves.
Habitat
In the wild, they preferred the foothill valleys, located no higher than 2 km above sea level, or settled in the dry steppes. The most comfortable place for them was the Dzungarian Gobi. Here they had plenty of food, slightly salted and fresh water sources, as well as a large number of natural shelters. They moved through the territory of Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China. Thanks to the work of paleontologists, it became known that the historical range of the horse was quite wide. In the west it reached the Volga, in the east - to the Daurian steppes, in the south - it was limited to high mountains.
Now they live in reserves and sanctuaries of Russia, Mongolia and China, some European countries.
Nutrition
In nature, horses ate rough food - shrubs, cereals - saxauls, caragana, feather grass, wormwood, thyme, chia and others. In winter, they had to dig out snow with their front hooves and eat dry grass. In captivity due to the fact that experts could not reproduce the correct animal feed, the second generation of horses lost one of its signs - massive teeth.
Contained in the reserves, animals feed on plants that grow in them, and they are also taught in the winter to eat branches of shrubs and trees.
In zoos, their diet consists of:
- from hay;
- fresh grass;
- apples
- vegetables - cabbage, carrots and beets;
- bran, oats.
Breeding and offspring
Scientists sounded the alarm in time and made every effort not to lose this type of animal. But at the beginning, each state dealt with this problem individually, which again led to the threat of the disappearance of Przewalski’s horse, since constantly closely related individuals were crossed. All this led to the birth of babies with genetic diseases, and the livestock began to die out en masse.
To save the populations of mares, they began to cross with different steppe breeds, so they acquired new characters, and began to differ greatly from their ancestors, discovered at the end of the 19th century.
As a result of breeding horses in captivity, two lines appeared - Askanian and Prague. Both of them contain the genotype of the wild species, which is important to maintain. You can distinguish between the two lines on the exterior. The first have a red-brown suit and a strong physique. The Prague line is characterized by a more elegant form of the animal, with a light color - the belly and end of the muzzle are almost white.
Sexual maturity in mares occurs earlier than in stallions. In females at 2 years old, in males at 5 years old. In spring, females and males mate, while the stallions very zealously guard their "harem". Skirmishes constantly occur with other males for possession of the female. The males reared up and hit their opponent with their massive hooves. Usually, they cannot avoid various injuries, bruises and fractures.
The female’s pregnancy lasts 11 months, and the birth of the cub occurs in the spring-summer period, when it is warm and there is no shortage of food. One female always has one cub.
Under normal conditions, the foal's weight is 35-45 kg. Until six months, he eats mother’s milk, although already at 2 weeks he is trying to chew grass. After a couple of hours, a newborn baby gets to his feet and follows his mother everywhere. If he lags behind her, then mother without unnecessary tenderness begins to push him, biting into the area of the base of the tail. Using the same method, she weaned him from sucking milk.
When frost occurs, so that the kids do not suffer from the cold, they are driven into a ring formed from adults, where they warm them with their breath. The one-year-old foal leaves the herd not of his own free will, the leader of the herd expels him.
Specialists are still trying to cross a wild horse with other breeds, but mostly attempts remain inconclusive, since the resulting hybrid completely loses the quality of the mother breed. The goal of the breeders is to get a new hybrid that will retain the full appearance and characteristics of the Przewalski horse, but will have larger dimensions.
Population and species status
By the 70s of the 20th century, not a single animal remained in the natural environment, but in nurseries around the world managed to save 20 individuals that were suitable for reproduction. However, already in 1959, biologists raised the issue of the extinction of the species and convened an international symposium where a plan for the conservation of the population was developed. The measures were successful and gradually their numbers began to grow, by 1985 a decision was made to return the animal to nature.
A dossier has been opened for all horses living in captivity; the Prague Zoo deals with this. This endangered animal is protected at the state and international level. It is listed in the Red Book not only of individual countries, including Russia, but also in the International. Active work is underway to restore the number of animals in the natural habitat. Scientists believe that soon the time will come when the species will no longer be on the verge of extinction.
Reintroduction program
Reintroduction is the relocation of animals to their natural environment. This program is very difficult, as captive-bred individuals lose their survival skills in the wild. Moreover, Przhevalsky’s horse reproduces well only inside the breed and in its own range.
Why is it necessary to return horses to freedom? Experts noticed that each new generation of horses gradually loses its characteristic features and degrades, since the conditions in the reserves differ from their native habitat. Even now, babies born in zoos are smaller in comparison with their predecessors, they are thinner and weaker.
The first reintroduction work began in 1985. International organizations joined forces and began to look for territories with suitable conditions for the life of horses. One of them is the Mongolian steppe Khustai-Nuru and Tahiin Tale, the last known animal habitat located in the Dzungarian Gobi. Animals were brought from the Ukrainian reserve Askania-Nova and a number of zoos in Western Europe.
In Russia, for this purpose, the preserve in the Orenburg region “Pre-Ural Steppe” was chosen. It is here that more than 90% of the area is occupied by grassy types of vegetation, that is, herbs and cereals, which are the natural forage base of the Przhevalsky horse. This is the only steppe reserve in Russia suitable for them. A couple of horses were brought here from France. French scientists managed to keep strong representatives of the population due to free grazing.
Kazakhstan has also begun to implement a project whose goal was the creation of a free horse population in the Altyn Emel National Park with the participation of the Munich and Almaty Zoos and the International Wildlife Fund. Animals were brought from German zoos in 2003.
Individuals grown in captivity are first released into the intermediate zone, where they are under round-the-clock supervision of specialists for several months. As soon as the animals adapt to the new conditions, they are finally released into the wild.
A reintroduction program is also available in China and Hungary. In other European countries, for financial reasons, they were suspended, and later with the support of public organizations restored.
The largest captive Przhevalsky horse breeding program was carried out in the Askania-Nova reserve in Ukraine. Several dozens of individuals were released by specialists into the area of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Here they adapted well and began to multiply actively. The population in this area has increased to two hundred individuals, but, unfortunately, all efforts have brought to nothing the poachers. Every year, dozens of animals died from their bullets, and in 2011 there were only 30-40 animals left.
Today, 300 animals live in the natural environment around the world.
Cost of horses
There is no need to talk about the price of a horse, as it is considered a rare and endangered animal. They are not allowed in private stables. Moreover, these animals are not amenable to domestication and training, retain their unbridled, wild and aggressive disposition.
Interesting Facts
There are several interesting facts about the breed:
- The breed was discovered by chance.
- These animals are distinguished by courage, and fear only their natural enemy - the wolf.
- The stallions are very jealous.
- This is the wildest type of horse to date, it has never been domesticated.
- Her close relative is a wild, Asian donkey - a kulan, which is often called a semi-donkey, since it has many similarities with a horse.
- The stallion is the leader of the herd, but the female plays the main role in the search for water and food.
Przhevalsky’s freedom-loving horses are gradually settling in national parks, reserves and reserves. The state guard gives hope that the next generation of man will see this kind of animal.