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Przewalski`s Horses - The Last Surviving Subspecies Of Wild Horse
When you think of wild horses you probably think of Mustangs in the plains, movies like Spirit, The Black Stallion or even Hildago. What you may not know is that there is only one last surviving subspecies of wild horse left in the world. That is the Przewalski`s Horse. You may recognize the name and you`ve probably seen them before in the zoo. This adorable, stout little horse has some incredible history and it`s hard to imagine that once upon a time there were thousands of these wild horses roaming all over the world, but now they`re nearly extinct.
The Przewalski`s Horse originally came from Asia, primarily Mongolia and China, and were grassland animals. When they were prominent in the wild, their main predators were wolves and snow leopards. They`re quite small, with a maximum height of 13.7 hands, with a weight of around 300 kilos and a lifespan of 25 years.
As of now, there are only about 1500 of these beautiful horses still remaining, primarily in zoos and no longer in the wild. In fact, at one point the Przewalski`s Horse was considered entirely extinct in the wild and it only came down to a few biologists and conservationists who worked tirelessly in the 40s to ensure that didn`t happen. Every single Przewalski`s Horse that is alive today is a direct descendent of about 9 of the 13 horses who were captured in 1945 to try and preserve the species. Despite those efforts, they are still very much in threat of extinction, which is sad because many people aren`t even aware of it.
These beautiful animals got their name from the Russian explorer Nikolai Przhevalsky in 1881. In case you`re wondering how to correctly pronounce this horses` name, it`s she-val-skee, and it has a Polish origin, even though you might think it was named after the Russian who discovered them. It`s also known as the takhihorses, which are quite famous, among locals in Mongolia, where the horse used to roam freely for hundreds of years.
They date as far back as the 15th century and were recounted for the very first time in the journal of Johann Schiltberger while he was a prisoner of the Mongol Khan.
The reason for the dramatic decrease in population in the early 20th century was due to the grasslands of Mongolia drying out. The last wild herd sighting was in 1967 and the last individual 1969.
Today, there are many conservation efforts to keep the Przewalski`s Horse alive and well and back into numbers that consider it not under threat of extinction. While you can now find the Przewalski`s Horse in many zoos, it doesn`t mean things are back where they should be. We hope this beautiful horse doesn`t become extinct and conservationists do everything they can to make this hope a reality.
The Przewalski`s Horse originally came from Asia, primarily Mongolia and China, and were grassland animals. When they were prominent in the wild, their main predators were wolves and snow leopards. They`re quite small, with a maximum height of 13.7 hands, with a weight of around 300 kilos and a lifespan of 25 years.
As of now, there are only about 1500 of these beautiful horses still remaining, primarily in zoos and no longer in the wild. In fact, at one point the Przewalski`s Horse was considered entirely extinct in the wild and it only came down to a few biologists and conservationists who worked tirelessly in the 40s to ensure that didn`t happen. Every single Przewalski`s Horse that is alive today is a direct descendent of about 9 of the 13 horses who were captured in 1945 to try and preserve the species. Despite those efforts, they are still very much in threat of extinction, which is sad because many people aren`t even aware of it.
These beautiful animals got their name from the Russian explorer Nikolai Przhevalsky in 1881. In case you`re wondering how to correctly pronounce this horses` name, it`s she-val-skee, and it has a Polish origin, even though you might think it was named after the Russian who discovered them. It`s also known as the takhihorses, which are quite famous, among locals in Mongolia, where the horse used to roam freely for hundreds of years.
They date as far back as the 15th century and were recounted for the very first time in the journal of Johann Schiltberger while he was a prisoner of the Mongol Khan.
The reason for the dramatic decrease in population in the early 20th century was due to the grasslands of Mongolia drying out. The last wild herd sighting was in 1967 and the last individual 1969.
Today, there are many conservation efforts to keep the Przewalski`s Horse alive and well and back into numbers that consider it not under threat of extinction. While you can now find the Przewalski`s Horse in many zoos, it doesn`t mean things are back where they should be. We hope this beautiful horse doesn`t become extinct and conservationists do everything they can to make this hope a reality.
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