Przewalski's horse (redirected from Przevalsky's Horse)

Przewalski's horse (pshəväl`skēz), wild horse of Asia, Equus przewalski, E. ferus przewalski, or E. caballus przewalski, the only extant wild horse that, in the purebred state, is not descended from the domestic horse. Smaller than most domestic horses, it has a large head and bulging forehead. It is dun-colored, with an upright crest of dark hair on its head and neck, a dark stripe along the backbone, and a dark, plumed tail. Przewalski's horse can interbreed with the domestic horse, and some authorities regard it as a subspecies of the domestic horse (E. caballus), although it has a different number of chromosomes. Because interbreeding with Mongol horses may have begun centuries ago, it is possible that even the original specimens of Przewalski's horse to be described were actually of mixed descent. The animal's former range probably extended from W Mongolia to N Xinjiang, China.

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.

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Przewalski's horse

Przewalski's horse (Equus caballus przewalskii).

(credit: Kenneth W. Fink from Root Resources)

Last wild equine subspecies (Equus caballus przewalskii) surviving into the 20th century. It is yellowish or light red (dun) and stands 12–14 hands (48–56 in., 122–142 cm) high. It has a dark mane and tail and usually a stripe on the back. The mane is short and erect with no forelock. It was discovered in western Mongolia in the 1870s. The horse disappeared in the wild in the 1960s, but the descendants of specimens that had earlier been taken to European zoos began to be reintroduced into the Mongolian steppe in the 1990s.