Przewalski's Horse
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| Przewalski's Horse | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Equus ferus przewalskii (Poliakov, 1881) |
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The Przewalski's horse (Equus przewalskii or E. caballus przewalskii), also known as the Mongolian Wild Horse, or Takhi, is the closest living relative of the Domestic Horse and may in fact be the same species. (Authorities differ about the correct classification). The two are the only equids that can cross-breed and produce fertile offspring.
The current (as of 2002) world population of these horses is about 1000, all descended from approximately 15 captured around 1900 and bred in zoos. The wild population in Mongolia died out in the 1960s; captive-bred horses were returned to the wild starting in 1992. The area to which they have been reintroduced became Hustai National Park in 1998.
[change] References
- ↑ "An extraordinary return from the brink of extinction for worlds last wild horse" ZSL Living Conservation, December 19, 2005.
