Everything about The Wild Horse totally explained
The
Wild Horse (
Equus ferus) is a member of the
Horse genus which currently is native only in
Asia. The true wild horse isn't merely a
feral horse like the
Mustang; a true wild horse species is one which was never successfully
domesticated.
Two species or subspecies (taxonomy is debated) of wild horses survived into modern times: The
Tarpan or Eurasian Wild Horse (
Equus ferus ferus), once native to
Europe and Asia, and
Przewalski's Horse, also known as the Mongolian Wild Horse or Takhi (classification disputed, either
Equus ferus przewalskii or
Equus przewalskii), native to Central Asia and the
Gobi Desert. The Tarpan became
extinct in captivity in Ukraine in 1918 or 1919. The Przewalski's Horse is still found today, though it's an
endangered species and for a time was considered extinct in the wild. Roughly 1500 animals are protected in
zoos around the world, and today, a small breeding population has been reintroduced in
Mongolia. As of 2005, a cooperative venture between the Zoological Society of London and Mongolian Scientists has resulted in a free-ranging population of 248 animals in the wild.
Przewalski's Horse has notable biological differences from the domestic
horse; unlike
domesticated horses, which have 64 chromosomes, the wild horse has 66 chromosomes. However, the offspring of Przewalski and domestic horses are fertile, possessing 65 chromosomes.
Other species of wild horses were once indigenous to
North America, as well, populating the continent before and during the last
Ice Age. Approximately 10,000 years ago, some horses in the
Western Hemisphere migrated to
Eurasia across the
Bering land bridge, and fanned out from
Siberia to the rest of
Asia,
Europe, and the
Middle East. What horses remained behind became extinct in North America. There are several competing theories about why this happened. One theory holds that climate changes associated with the end of the last Ice Age caused the extinction of the horse, the
mammoth and other large land animals. Another theory holds that newly-arrived humans hunted horses to extinction. A third holds that the newly arrived humans brought a biological factor which caused the demise of horses and other large ungulates in the Americas. It is also possible that it was a combination of factors.
History
Only two never-domesticated "wild" groups survived into historic times,
Przewalski's horse, or
Equus ferus przewalski, and the
Tarpan, or
Equus ferus ferus Przewalski's horse occupied the eastern Eurasian steppes, perhaps from the
Urals to
Mongolia, although the ancient border between Tarpan and Przewalksi distributions hasn't been clearly defined. The Tarpan became
extinct in the late
19th century. Przewalski's horse was limited to
Dzungaria and western
Mongolia in the same period, became extinct in the wild during the 1960s, but was re-introduced in the late 1980s to two preserves in Mongolia. Although researchers such as
Marija Gimbutas theorized that the horses of the
Chalcolithic period were Przewalski's, more recent genetic studies indicate that Przewalski's horse isn't an ancestor to modern domesticated horses. However, other subspecies of
Equus ferus, may have existed and could have been the stock from which domesticated horses are descended.
As a result, in
2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature "conserved the usage of 17 specific names based on wild species, which are pre-dated by or contemporary with those based on domestic forms", re-confirming
Equus ferus for the wild horse.
Taxonomists who consider the domestic horse a subspecies of the wild horse should use
Equus ferus caballus but the name
Equus caballus remains available for the domestic horse where it's considered to be a separate species.
Feral horses
Horses which live in an untamed state but have ancestors who have been
domesticated are not true "wild" horses; they're
feral horses. The best known examples of feral horses are the "wild" horses of the American west. When Europeans reintroduced the
horse to the Americas, beginning with the arrival of the
Conquistadors in the 15th century, some horses escaped and formed
feral herds known today as
Mustangs. The Australian equivalent to the mustang is the
brumby, descendants of the horses let loose in Australia by English settlers. In Spain, the free-ranging feral horse is known as
Sorraia. There are also isolated populations of feral horses in a number of places, including
Sable Island off the coast of
Nova Scotia, and
Assateague Island off the coast of
Virginia. Some of these horses are said to be the descendants of horses who managed to swim to land when they were shipwrecked. Others may have been deliberately brought to various islands by settlers and either left to reproduce freely, or abandoned when assorted human settlements failed. While these are often referred to as "wild" horses, they're not truly "wild" in the biological sense of having no domesticated ancestors.
Further Information
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