We actually have these animals at the Bronx Zoo. They are called Mongolian Wild Horses, Przewalski’s horse, takhi, and Dzungarian horse. Sadly, they were made extinct in the wild for the following reasons:
- Competition with livestock.
- Hunting . . . I guess people ate them.
- Capturing of foals for zoos.
- Several harsh winters.
- Military activities in their terrain.
On the plus side, that third problem is also what is allowing them to be reintroduced into the wild. This brings them up to critically endangered status. They are another success story involving breeding and reintroduction. This also makes them the only wild horse species. Well, that and the fact that they are untamable even in captivity. No, zebra and the like don’t count. You can read a lot about their comeback HERE.
What are some cool facts about these horses?
- They are actually distant cousins of domestic horses. They share a common ancestor.
- They have 66 chromosomes, which differs from the domestic’s 64. This seems to allow them to produce fertile hybrids. Typically, a hybrid cannot breed.
- Wild horses are short and stocky with a large head.
- They are hind-gut fermenters, which means they need to have a lot of water and low quality food.
- Herds typically have a single stallion, but may have younger ones living on the edge of the territory. Once they reach breeding age, they are chased out of the herd. This is why you will also find bachelor herds.
- N.M. Przewalski is the first person to scientifically describe this species, which is why his name is attached to them.
- The first general documentation of these horses are rock paintings from Spain and France, which are more than 200,000 years old.
- Wild horses have a variation of brown colors, but their bellies are always lighter colored and their backs are always darker. They also have a zebra-like mane.
- Currently, they are only find in reintroduction sights within Mongolia, China, and Kazahstan.
- In order to deal with 90 mph winds, they will face away from the wind and tuck their tails between their legs. This protects their eyes, nose, and genitals.
- Their greatest predator is the wolf. Mares will create a circle around the foals to protect them since they can easily be run down.
- Wild horses go through hypodermis in the winter. This means their metabolism slows down, which makes them eat food at a slower rate.
- All living wild horses are descended from a group of 13 breeding horses, which were protected when they went extinct in the wild.
Let’s look at some pictures and videos.
Legends of Windemere 
Always nice to learn about something like this. With a gene pool of 13, they aren’t exactly out of the woods yet.
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True. That’s one of the worries.
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I see where they’re reintroducing cheetahs to India now. Extinct since the 1950s so there can be no gene contamination. Might even help preserve the African ones by having an alternate site.
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Maybe. Although, they would need to introduce a lot to get wide genetic variations.
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Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog.
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Thanks for sharing.
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My pleasure, Charles 👍😃
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Thanks for this wonderful post, Charles.
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You’re welcome.
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These reintroductions are great. I hope they succeed.
There have been quite a few reintroductions around the world. Red kites in the south of England, and sea eagles in western Scotland. Both are doing well.
But a big problem is not these animals, but those either deliberately or accidentally introduced to places where they are not native: Rabbits in Australia, the grey squirrel in the UK, and others, like rats in various parts of the world, especially islands where they wreak havoc on things like ground nesting birds.
And there are problems with plants, too.
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Invasive species is a big problem everywhere. Totally different from reintroductions, which are on purpose. Most invasive species these days are accidents due to hitchhiking on transports or released pets.
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True. But I love the reintroductions. They’ve also reintroduced beavers in Scotland and cranes in sw England. There has also been some controversial talk about wolves.
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They’ve done wolves in some of our national parks. Been highly effective.
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I think wolves Inthe UK is slightly different than in the US. We have far less country without any livestock. Even our national parks have domestic grazing animals.
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We have more parks, which is why they never went fully extinct.
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Excellent work from the experts and a great story. Thanks Charles.
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Thanks.
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I’ve seen some of them at the San Diego wildlife park. They are very cool and unique.
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I enjoy seeing them at the zoo when I can. They’re part of the monorail area, which is usually busy. That gives them plenty of space to move around.
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Charles, are the ponies on Chincoteague Island off the Carolina coast not considered wild horses? Maybe because they are ponies and not horses? Such beautiful animals!
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I had to look it up. The Chincoteague Island ponies are considered feral, but they wouldn’t be wild horses in the same as the Mongolians. The ponies supposedly came from domesticated horses, which means they come from tamed animals. The Mongolian Wild Horse is actually fully wild with no genetic crossing over with domesticated species.
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Ah! Thank you, Charles!
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Are these the horses the Mongol warriors rode into battle?
We still have Dartmoor ponies in the wild, who look very similar.
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No. These horses can’t be tamed. So they’d be a bad choice as a mount.
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They are pretty magnificent. I do hope they make a strong comeback.
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Me too. Sounds like it’s a slowly, but surely thing.
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