PRZEWALSKI HORSES -
ENVIRONMENT
News: Wild horse species is returned
to the Kazakh steppes
What's in the news?
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Przewalski’s horses have been reintroduced into Kazakhstan Steppes, after an absence of about 200
years.
Przewalski Horses:
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Przewalski horses are the last truly wild horses and were found in Mongolia.
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Once thought to be the ancestor to the domestic
horse, they are actually distant
cousins.
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Mitochondrial DNA suggests that they diverged from
a common ancestor 500,000 years ago.
Features:
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They are small,
stocky, heavily built with a
large head, thick neck, and short legs.
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They are dun-colored with a dark zebra-like erect
mane, no forelock, and a dark stripe along the backbone to a dark, plumed tail.
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There are markings in their body which are of
yellowish-white belly, dark lower legs, and zebra-like stripes behind the knees.
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Horses can withstand
harsh winters with temperatures dropping below minus 30 degrees Celsius.
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They are herbivores
eating grass and leaves from shrubby trees.
Native Habitat:
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They were originally found across Europe and Asia.
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Now they are found at reintroduction sites in
Mongolia, China, and Kazakhstan.
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There are now
2,000 Przewalski horses around the world, mainly in China and Mongolia but
they are also found in France, Russia and living wild in the Chernobyl
exclusion zone between Belarus and Ukraine.
Social Structure:
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Typically consist of several mares, a dominant
stallion, and their offspring.
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Younger stallions form bachelor herds and must
defeat the dominant stallion to breed.
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Offspring are chased out upon reaching breeding
age.
Distinction:
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Wild Status - It is the only true wild horse left. Other
“wild” horses are actually feral domestic horses.
Conservation Status:
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IUCN Status - Endangered