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142-430: Many of the animals roam freely along an 8-kilometre (5.0 mi) road through the 240-acre (97 ha) "African Reserve". Others can be viewed in a walk-through zoo. Animals in the reserve include Przewalski's horse , bears , European and American bison , wildebeest , greater and lesser kudu , dromedary camels , zebras , giraffes , rhinos , hippos , eland , Watusi cattle , and three elephants . Animals in

284-403: A breastplate type harness or a yoke more suitable for oxen , which was not as efficient at utilizing the full strength of the animals as the later-invented padded horse collar that arose several millennia later. A 2005 study analyzed the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of a worldwide range of equids , from 53,000-year-old fossils to contemporary horses. Their analysis placed all equids into

426-482: A fission of a large chromosome ancestral to domestic horse chromosome 5 to produce Przewalski's horse chromosomes 23 and 24, though conversely, a Robertsonian translocation that fused two chromosomes ancestral to those seen in Przewalski's horse to produce the single large domestic horse chromosome has also been proposed. Many smaller inversions , insertions and other rearrangements were observed between

568-547: A geneticist who developed the idea of cryopreserving genetic material from species considered to be endangered. His ideas led to creating the Frozen Zoo as a genetic library. In 2021, Kurt was relocated to the breeding herd at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park . In order to integrate him into the existing herd, Kurt was partnered with a young female named Holly, a few months older than him, in order to allow him to learn

710-407: A vasectomy on a Przewalski horse in 2007—the first operation of its kind on this species, and possibly the first ever on any endangered species. While normally, a vasectomy may be performed on an endangered animal under limited circumstances, particularly if an individual has already produced many offspring and its genes are overrepresented in the population, scientists realized the animal in question

852-459: A Copper Age corral was discovered at Krasnyi Yar in 2006 and mats of horse-dung at two other Botai sites. Current findings continue to support the Botai as having domesticated horses. A study in 2018 revealed that the Botai horses did not contribute significantly to the genetics of modern domesticated horses, and that therefore a subsequent and separate domestication event must have been responsible for

994-522: A Przewlaski horse mithocondrial clade. Domestication of the horse How and when horses became domesticated has been disputed. Although horses appeared in Paleolithic cave art as early as 30,000 BC, these were wild horses and were probably hunted for meat. The clearest evidence of early use of the horse as a means of transport is from chariot burials dated c.  2000 BC . However, an increasing amount of evidence began to support

1136-519: A change in skeletal measurements detected among horse bones recovered from middens dated about 2500 BCE in eastern Hungary in Bell-Beaker sites, and in later Bronze Age sites in the Russian steppes, Spain , and Eastern Europe . Horse bones from these contexts exhibited an increase in variability, thought to reflect the survival under human care of both larger and smaller individuals than appeared in

1278-543: A distinct regional gene pool in the eastern part of the Eurasian steppes, not from the same genetic group that gave rise to modern domesticated horses. Nevertheless, evidence such as the cave paintings of Lascaux suggests that the ancient wild horses that some researchers now label the "Tarpan subtype" probably resembled Przewalski horses in their general appearance: big heads, dun coloration , thick necks, stiff upright manes , and relatively short, stout legs. The horses of

1420-434: A domestic horse was bred back into the captive Przewalski's horse population. However, recent studies have shown only minimal genetic contribution of this domestic horse to the captive population. The situation was improved when the exchange of breeding animals among facilities increased genetic diversity and there was a consequent improvement in fertility, but the population experienced another genetic bottleneck when many of

1562-530: A few weeks but are not weaned for 8–13 months after birth. They reach sexual maturity at two years of age. Przewalski's-type wild horses appear in European cave art dating as far back as 20,000 years ago, but genetic investigation of a 35,870-year-old specimen from one such cave instead showed an affinity with extinct Iberian horse lineage and the modern domestic horse, suggesting that it was not Przewalski's horse being depicted in this art. Horse skeletons dating to

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1704-555: A horse in Russia's Tomsk Oblast that was apparently this species, and a few decades later in 1750, a large hunt with thousands of beaters organized by the Manchurian emperor killed between two and three hundred of these horses. The species is named after a Russian colonel of Polish descent, Nikolai Przhevalsky (1839–1888) (Nikołaj Przewalski in Polish). An explorer and naturalist, he obtained

1846-693: A much-needed boost from this new source, with the spread of her bloodline through the inbred captive groups leading to their increased reproductive success, and by 1965, there were more than 130 animals spread among thirty-two zoos and parks. In 1977, the Foundation for the Preservation and Protection of the Przewalski Horse was founded in Rotterdam , the Netherlands, by Jan and Inge Bouman. The foundation started

1988-429: A new study indicated ancient horses of the Botai culture are related to takhis, not to domestic horses as was previously thought. Specifically, the Botai horses appeared to be ancestral to the modern takhi, because all seven takhis nested within the phylogenetic tree of the 20 Botai horses. No comparison was made to definitively wild early takhis. The authors posit that modern Przewalski's horses are feral descendants of

2130-410: A nucleus collected from a cultured Przewalski's horse fibroblast. The resulting embryo was induced to begin division. It was cultured until it reached the blastocyst stage, then implanted into a domestic horse surrogate mare, which carried the embryo to term and delivered a foal with the Przewalski horse DNA of the long-deceased stallion. The cloned horse was named Kurt, after Dr. Kurt Benirschke ,

2272-606: A number that had grown by the early 1990s to over 1,500. While dozens of zoos worldwide have Przewalski's horses in small numbers, specialized reserves are also dedicated primarily to the species. The world's largest captive-breeding program for Przewalski's horses is at the Askania Nova preserve in Ukraine. From 1998, thirty-one horses were also released in the unenclosed Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine and Belarus . People evacuated

2414-433: A program of exchange between captive populations in zoos worldwide to reduce inbreeding and later began its own breeding program. As a result of such efforts, the extant herd has retained a far greater genetic diversity than its genetic bottleneck made likely. By 1979, when this concerted program of population management to maximize genetic diversity was begun, there were almost four hundred horses in sixteen facilities,

2556-470: A program to reintroduce Przewalski's horses that were bred in France into Mongolia. Instrumental to that 2004 reintroduction was Claudia Feh , a Swiss equine specialist and conservation biologist, Feh led an effort to bring together animals that zoos had conserved to create a breeding population in southern France. Then, after it was established, three family groups were relocated to Khovd in western Mongolia. At

2698-611: A single clade , or group with a single common ancestor , consisting of three genetically divergent species: the South American Hippidion , the North American New World stilt-legged horse , and Equus , the true horse. The true horse included prehistoric horses and the Przewalski's horse , as well as what is now the modern domestic horse, belonged to a single Holarctic species. The true horse migrated from

2840-627: A site on the northern edge of the Gobi Desert , Feh worked in cooperation with local people to ensure the horses survived and flourished. For this work, Feh received a Rolex Award in 2004. In 2004 and 2005, 22 horses were released by the Association Takh to a third reintroduction site in the buffer zone of the Khar Us Nuur National Park , in the northern edge of the Gobi ecoregion. In

2982-448: A typical Przewalski's horse environment, including: Elymus repens , Carex spp., Fabaceae , and Asteraceae . Looking at the species' diet overall, Przewalski's horses most often eat E. repens , Trifolium pratense , Vicia cracca , Poa trivialis , Dactylis glomerata , and Bromus inermis . While the horses eat a variety of different plant species, they tend to favor different species at different times of year. In

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3124-417: A variety of the domesticated horse ( E. caballus ). Przewalski's horse is stockily built, smaller, and shorter than its domesticated relatives. Typical height is about 12–14  hands (48–56 inches, 122–142 cm), and the average weight is around 300 kg (660 lb). They have a dun coat with pangaré features and often have dark primitive markings . Przewalski's horse

3266-829: Is a rare and endangered horse originally native to the steppes of Central Asia . It is named after the Russian geographer and explorer Nikolay Przhevalsky . Once extinct in the wild , since the 1990s it has been reintroduced to its native habitat in Mongolia in the Khustain Nuruu National Park , Takhin Tal Nature Reserve, and Khomiin Tal, as well as several other locales in Central Asia and Eastern Europe . Several genetic characteristics of Przewalski's horse differ from what

3408-449: Is about 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in). It weighs around 300 kilograms (660 lb). The coat is generally dun in color with pangaré features, varying from dark brown around the mane, to pale brown on the flanks, and yellowish-white on the belly, as well as around the muzzle. The legs of Przewalski's horse are often faintly striped, also typical of primitive markings . The mane stands erect and does not extend as far forward, while

3550-637: Is being established in the Iberian System in Spain, the first free-roaming Przewalski’s horses in Western Europe. In 2024, a Colorado rancher discovered what appears to be a critically endangered Przewalski's horse at a Kansas livestock auction, mistakenly identified as a mule. Another similar horse was found at a Utah sanctuary. Genetic tests suggest both are Przewalski's horses, raising concerns about how they ended up in U.S. auctions. The owners care for

3692-567: Is disputed by archaeozoologist Williams T. Taylor, who argues that domestication did not take place until around 2000 BC. Genetic evidence indicates that domestication of the modern horse's ancestors likely occurred in an area known as the Volga–Don , in the Pontic–Caspian steppe region of eastern Europe , around 2200 BC. From there, use of horses spread across Eurasia for transportation, agricultural work , and warfare . Scientists have linked

3834-409: Is not an ancestor to modern domesticated horses. A 2014 study compared DNA from ancient horse bones that predated domestication and compared them to DNA of modern horses, discovering 125 genes that correlated to domestication. Some were physical, affecting muscle and limb development, cardiac strength and balance. Others were linked to cognitive function and most likely were critical to the taming of

3976-414: Is not conclusive evidence against domestication because horses can be ridden and controlled without bits by using a noseband or a hackamore , but such materials do not produce significant physiological changes nor are they apt to be preserved for millennia. The regular use of a bit to control a horse can create wear facets or bevels on the anterior corners of the lower second premolars . The corners of

4118-411: Is seen in modern domestic horses, indicating neither is an ancestor of the other. For example, Przewalski's horse has 33 chromosome pairs, compared to 32 for the domestic horse. Their ancestral lineages split from a common ancestor between 160,000 and 38,000 years ago, long before the domestication of the horse . Przewalski's horse was long considered the only remaining truly wild horse, in contrast with

4260-502: Is still the home of the Counts of La Panouse, and parts of it are open to the public, with costumed guides leading the tour. The castle was built in the 16th century by Raoul Moreau  [ fr ] , an alchemist and the treasurer of the King of France. It was designed by architect Philibert de L'Orme to be in perfect harmony with nature, and the center arch of the castle marks the position of

4402-509: Is used to determine so-called haplogroups . A haplogroup is a group of closely related haplotypes that share the same common ancestor. In horses, eighteen main haplogroups are recognized (A-R). Several haplogroups are unequally distributed around the world, indicating the addition of local wild mares to the domesticated stock. In 2018, genomic comparison of 42 ancient-horse genomes, 20 of which were from Botai, with 46 published ancient and modern-horse genomes yielded surprising results. It

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4544-461: The Gobi Desert . It has been suggested that this was not their natural habitat, but, like the onager, they were a steppe animal driven to this barren last refuge by the dual pressures of hunting and habitat loss to agricultural grazing. There were two distinct populations recognized by local Mongolians, a lighter steppe variety and a darker mountain one. This distinction is seen in early twentieth-century descriptions. Their mountainous habitat included

4686-511: The Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area continued. as of 2011 , an estimated total of almost 400 horses existed in three free-ranging populations in the wild. Prague Zoo has transported horses to Mongolia in several rounds in cooperation with partners (Czech Air Force, European Breeding Programme for Przewalski's Horses, Association pour le cheval de Przewalski: Takh, Czech Development Agency, Czech Embassy in Mongolia, and others). The zoo has

4828-482: The Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area . The ranges of harems are separated, but slightly overlapping. They have few modern predators, but one of the few is the Himalayan wolf . Horses maintain visual contact with their family and herd at all times, and have a host of ways to communicate with one another, including vocalizations, scent marking , and a wide range of visual and tactile signals. Each kick, groom, tilt of

4970-663: The Ice Age were hunted for meat in Europe and across the Eurasian steppes and in North America by early modern humans. Numerous kill sites exist and many cave paintings in Europe indicate what they looked like. Many of these Ice Age subspecies died out during the rapid climate changes associated with the end of the last Ice Age or were hunted out by humans, particularly in North America , where

5112-549: The Maikop culture settlements and burials of c. 3300 BC contain both horse bones and images of horses. A frieze of nineteen horses painted in black and red colors is found in one of the Maikop graves. The widespread appearance of horse bones and images in Maikop sites suggest to some observers that horseback riding began in the Maikop period. Later, images of horses, identified by their short ears, flowing manes, and tails that bushed out at

5254-602: The Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg . This was supplemented in 1894 when the brothers Grum-Grzhimailo returned several hides and skulls to St. Petersburg and described the horse's behavior in the wild. A number of these horses were captured around 1900 by Carl Hagenbeck and placed in zoos, and these, along with one later captive, reproduced to give rise to today's population. After 1903, there were no reports of

5396-661: The Takhiin Shar Nuruu (The Yellow Wild-Horse Mountain Range). In their last decades in the wild, the remnant population was limited to the small region between the Takhiin Shar Nuruu and Bajtag-Bogdo mountain ridges. Attempts to obtain specimens for exhibit and captive breeding were largely unsuccessful until 1902, when 28 captured foals were brought to Europe. These and a small number of additional captives would be distributed among zoos and breeding centers in Europe and

5538-543: The Tarpan ( Equus ferus ferus ). The Tarpan became extinct in the late 19th century and Przewalski's horse is endangered ; it became extinct in the wild during the late 1960s, but was re-introduced in the early 1990s to two preserves in Mongolia. Although researchers such as Marija Gimbutas theorized that the horses of the Chalcolithic (Copper Age) were Przewalski's, more recent genetic studies indicate that Przewalski's horse

5680-596: The Upper Paleolithic period in places such as the caves of Lascaux , France, suggesting that wild horses lived in regions outside of the Eurasian steppes before domestication and may have even been hunted by early humans, concentration of remains suggests animals being deliberately captured and contained, an indicator of domestication, at least for food, if not necessarily use as a working animal. Around 3500–3000 BCE, horse bones began to appear more frequently in archaeological sites beyond their center of distribution in

5822-440: The 1980s had already substantially increased the genetic diversity of the captive population after he was discovered to have more unique alleles than any other horse living at the time, including otherwise lost genetic material from two of the original captive founders. To produce the clone, frozen skin fibroblasts were thawed, and grown in cell culture . An oocyte was collected from a domestic horse, and its nucleus replaced by

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5964-525: The American mustang and the Australian brumby , which are instead feral horses descended from domesticated animals. That status was called into question when domestic horses of the 5,000-year-old Botai culture of Central Asia were found to be more closely related to Przewalski's horses than to E. f. caballus . The study raised the possibility that modern Przewalski's horses could be the feral descendants of

6106-678: The Americas to Eurasia via Beringia , becoming broadly distributed from North America to central Europe, north and south of Pleistocene ice sheets. It became extinct in Beringia around 14,200 years ago, and in the rest of the Americas around 10,000 years ago. This clade survived in Eurasia, however, and it is from these horses which all domestic horses appear to have descended. These horses showed little phylogeographic structure, probably reflecting their high degree of mobility and adaptability. Therefore,

6248-564: The Balkans and the lower Danube valley, some of which had been occupied for 2000 years, were abandoned. Copper mining ceased in the Balkan copper mines, and the cultural traditions associated with the agricultural towns were terminated in the Balkans and the lower Danube valley. This collapse of "Old Europe" has been attributed to the immigration of mounted Indo-European warriors . The collapse could have been caused by intensified warfare, for which there

6390-472: The Botai culture, Botai and Kozhai 1, dated about 3500–3000 BCE. The Botai culture premolars are the earliest reported multiple examples of this dental pathology in any archaeological site, and preceded any skeletal change indicators by 1,000 years. While wear facets more than 3 mm deep were discovered on the lower second premolars of a single stallion from Dereivka in Ukraine , an Eneolithic settlement dated about 4000 BCE, dental material from one of

6532-534: The Eurasian steppes and were seen in central Europe , the middle and lower Danube valley, and the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia . Evidence of horses in these areas had been rare before, and as numbers increased, larger animals also began to appear in horse remains. This expansion in range was contemporary with the Botai culture, where there are indications that horses were corralled and ridden. This does not necessarily mean that horses were first domesticated in

6674-523: The GSDMC gene and the ZFPM1 gene. The GSDMC gene is linked to back problems in people, and scientists speculate that changes may have made horses' backs stronger. The ZFPM1 gene is related to mood regulation, and scientists speculate that this may have made horses more docile and easier to tame and manage. Strength and docility would have made horses more suitable for riding and other uses. Archaeological evidence for

6816-544: The Suvorovo graves. These agricultural cultures had not previously used polished-stone maces, and horse bones were rare or absent in their settlement sites. Probably their horse-head maces came from the Suvorovo immigrants. The Suvorovo people in turn acquired many copper ornaments from the Trypillia and Gumelnitsa towns. After this episode of contact and trade, but still during the period 4200–4000 BCE, about 600 agricultural towns in

6958-468: The United States. Many facilities failed in their attempts at captive breeding, but a few programs were established. However, by the mid-1930s, inbreeding had caused reduced fertility, and the captive population experienced a genetic bottleneck , with the surviving captive breeding stock descended from only 11 of the founder captives. In addition, in at least one instance, the progeny of interbreeding with

7100-409: The age of five. Stallions assemble groups of mares or challenge the leader of another group for dominance. Females are able to give birth at the age of three and have a gestation period of 11–12 months. Foals are able to stand about an hour after birth. The rate of infant mortality among foals is 25%, with 83.3% of these deaths resulting from leading stallion infanticide. Foals begin grazing within

7242-410: The ages and sexes of the horses killed by humans; the appearance of horse corrals ; equipment such as bits or other types of horse tack ; horses interred with equipment intended for use by horses, such as chariots ; and depictions of horses used for riding , driving , draught work , or symbols of human power. Few of these categories, taken alone, provide irrefutable evidence of domestication, but

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7384-457: The ancient Botai domesticated animals, rather than representing a surviving population of never-domesticated horses. Another geneticist pointed out that Przewalski's horses may have simply descended from the same wild population that the Botai horses came from, which would still be compatible with the findings of the study. In 2021, William Taylor and Christina Barron-Ortiz disputed the evidence for domestication of Przewalski's horse. Their case

7526-679: The animal bones. Within this three percent, horses were less than 10%, with 90% or more of the equids represented by onagers ( Equus hemionus ) or another ass-like equid that later became extinct, the hydruntine or European wild ass ( Equus hydruntinus ). Onagers were the most common native wild equids of the Near East. They were hunted in Syria , Anatolia , Mesopotamia , Iran , and Central Asia; and domesticated asses ( Equus asinus ) were imported into Mesopotamia, probably from Egypt , but wild horses apparently did not live there. In Northern Caucasus ,

7668-582: The animal was changed from "extinct in the wild" to " endangered " in 2005, while on the IUCN Red List they were reclassified from "extinct in the wild" to " critically endangered ", after a reassessment in 2008, and from "critically endangered" to "endangered" after a 2011 reassessment. In 2011, Prague Zoo started a new project, Return of the Wild Horses . With the support of public and many strategic partners, yearly transports of captive-bred horses into

7810-666: The animals but hope they can eventually join professional conservation programs. The Przewalski's Horse Reintroduction Project of China was initiated in 1985 when 11 wild horses were imported from overseas. After more than two decades of effort, the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding Centre has bred a large number of horses, 55 of which were released into the Kalamely Mountain area. The animals quickly adapted to their new environment. In 1988, six foals were born and survived, and by 2001, over 100 horses were at

7952-406: The assumption that there was a separation of the genotypes of domesticated and wild populations. Such a separation appears to have taken place, but dates based on such methods can only produce an estimate of the latest possible date for domestication without excluding the possibility of an unknown period of earlier gene flow between wild and domestic populations (which will occur naturally as long as

8094-469: The bit striking the vertical front edge of the lower premolars, due to very strong pressure from a human handler. Modern experiments showed that even organic bits of rope or leather can create significant wear facets, and also showed that facets 3mm (.118 in) deep or more do not appear on the premolars of wild horses . However, other researchers disputed both conclusions. Wear facets of 3 mm or more were found on seven horse premolars in two sites of

8236-537: The centre. As of 2013 , the center hosted 127 horses divided into 13 breeding herds and three bachelor herds. Reintroductions organized by Western European countries started in the 1990s. Several populations have now been released into the wild. A cooperative venture between the Zoological Society of London and Mongolian scientists has successfully reintroduced these horses from zoos into their natural habitat in Mongolia. In 1992, 16 horses were released into

8378-472: The chromosomes of domestic and Przewalski's horses, while there was much lower hetero zygosity in Przewalski's horses, with extensive segments devoid of genetic diversity, a consequence of the recent severe bottleneck of the captive Przewalski's horse population. In comparison, the chromosomal differences between domestic horses and zebras include numerous large-scale translocations , fusions, inversions, and centromere repositioning. Przewalski's horse has

8520-512: The cumulative evidence becomes increasingly more persuasive. The least ancient, but most persuasive, evidence of domestication comes from sites where horse leg bones and skulls, probably originally attached to hides, were interred with the remains of chariots in at least 16 graves of the Sintashta and Petrovka cultures. These were located in the steppes southeast of the Ural Mountains , between

8662-406: The decline in Przewalski's horse population. The wild population was already rare at its first scientific characterization. Przewalski reported seeing them only from a distance and may have instead sighted herds of local onager Mongolian wild asses. He was only able to obtain specimens of the type from Kirghiz hunters. The range of Przewalski's horse was limited to the arid Dzungarian Basin in

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8804-606: The depiction of horses as symbols of power in artifacts , and the appearance of horse bones in human graves. On the other hand, measurable changes in size and increases in variability associated with domestication occurred later, about 2500–2000 BCE, as seen in horse remains found at the site of Csepel-Haros in Hungary , a settlement of the Bell Beaker culture . Use of horses spread across Eurasia for transportation, agricultural work and warfare . Horses and mules in agriculture used

8946-525: The disks had protruding prongs or studs that would have pressed against the horse's lips when the reins were pulled on the opposite side. Studded cheekpieces were a new and fairly severe kind of control device that appeared simultaneously with chariots. All of the dated chariot graves contained wheel impressions, horse bones, weapons (arrow and javelin points, axes, daggers, or stone mace-heads), human skeletal remains, and cheekpieces. Because they were buried in teams of two with chariots and studded cheekpieces,

9088-765: The dock, began to appear in artistic media in Mesopotamia during the Akkadian period, 2300–2100 BCE. The word for "horse", literally translated as ass of the mountains, first appeared in Sumerian documents during the Third dynasty of Ur , about 2100–2000 BCE. The kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur apparently fed horses to lions for royal entertainment, perhaps indicating that horses were still regarded as more exotic than useful, but King Shulgi , about 2050 BCE, compared himself to "a horse of

9230-413: The domestic horse today is classified as Equus ferus caballus . No genetic originals of native wild horses currently exist. The Przewalski diverged from the modern horse before domestication. It has 66 chromosomes , as opposed to 64 among modern domesticated horses, and their Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) forms a distinct cluster. Genetic evidence suggests that modern Przewalski's horses are descended from

9372-400: The domestic Botai horses. However, it remains possible that both the Botai horses and the modern Przewalski's horses descend separately from the same ancient wild Przewalski's horse population. Its taxonomic position is still debated, with some taxonomists treating Przewalski's horse as a species , E. przewalskii , others as a subspecies of wild horse ( E. ferus przewalskii ) or

9514-525: The domesticated population is kept within the habitat of the wild population). Whether one adopts the narrower zoological definition of domestication or the broader cultural definition that rests on an array of zoological and archaeological evidence affects the time frame chosen for the domestication of the horse. The date of 4000 BCE is based on evidence that includes the appearance of dental pathologies associated with bitting , changes in butchering practices, changes in human economies and settlement patterns,

9656-466: The domestication of the horse comes from three kinds of sources: 1) changes in the skeletons and teeth of ancient horses; 2) changes in the geographic distribution of ancient horses, particularly the introduction of horses into regions where no wild horses had existed; and 3) archaeological sites containing artifacts, images, or evidence of changes in human behavior connected with horses. Examples include horse remains interred in human graves ; changes in

9798-529: The ear, or other contact with another horse is a means of communicating. This constant communication leads to complex social behaviors among Przewalski's horses. The historical population was said to have lived in the "wildest parts of the desert" with a preference for "especially saline districts". They were observed mostly during spring and summer at natural wells, migrating to them by crossing valleys rather than by way of higher mountains. Przewalski horse's diet consists of vegetation. Many plant species are in

9940-478: The earlier decades of captivity, the insular breeding by individual zoos led to inbreeding and reduced fertility. In 1979, several American zoos began a collaborative breeding-exchange program to maximize genetic diversity. Recent advances in equine reproductive science have also been used to preserve and expand the gene pool. Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution 's National Zoo successfully reversed

10082-460: The earliest evidence for chariots, suggesting that both horseback riding and chariot use were factors in expansion. Genetic data may also provide clues as to why this particular domestication event had far more widespread impact than other domestication events in Botai, Iberia, SIberia and Anatolia. The genetic lineage that leads to modern domestic horses shows evidence of strong selection for locomotor and behavioural adaptations. Changes relate to

10224-508: The end of the 1950s, only 12 individual horses were left in the world's zoos. A wild-caught mare captured as a foal a decade earlier was introduced into the Ukrainian captive population in 1957. This would prove the last wild-caught horse, and with the presumed extinction of the wild population, last sighted in Mongolia in the late 1960s, the captive population became the sole representatives of Przewalski's horse. Genetic diversity received

10366-781: The evidence is extremely persuasive that these steppe horses of 2100–1700 BCE were domesticated. Shortly after the period of these burials, the expansion of the domestic horse throughout Europe was little short of explosive. In the space of possibly 500 years, there is evidence of horse-drawn chariots in Greece, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. By another 500 years, the horse-drawn chariot had spread to China. Some researchers do not consider an animal to be "domesticated" until it exhibits physical changes consistent with selective breeding , or at least having been born and raised entirely in captivity. Until that point, they classify captive animals as merely "tamed". Those who hold to this theory of domestication point to

10508-406: The extinct tarpan E. f. ferus ); or even a subpopulation of the domestic horse. The American Society of Mammalogists considers Przewalski's horse and the tarpan both to be subspecies of Equus ferus , and classifies the domestic horse as a separate species, Equus caballus . Genetic analysis shows that the takhi and the domestic horse differ significantly, with neither ancestral to

10650-451: The family group until they are no longer dependent, usually at two or three years old. Young females join other harems, while bachelor stallions as well as old stallions who have lost their harems join bachelor groups. Family groups can join to form a herd that moves together. The patterns of their daily lives exhibit horse behavior similar to that of feral horse herds. Stallions herd, drive, and defend all members of their family, while

10792-515: The fifteenth century, Johann Schiltberger recorded one of the first European sightings of the horses in the journal recounting his trip to Mongolia as a prisoner of the Mongol Khan . Another was recorded as a gift to the Manchurian emperor around 1630, its value as a gift suggesting a difficulty in obtaining them. John Bell , a Scottish doctor in service to Peter the Great from 1719 to 1722, observed

10934-613: The fifth to the third millennia BCE, found in Central Asia, with a range extending to the southern Urals and the Altai , belong to the genetic lineage of Przewalski's horse. Of particular note are the horses of this lineage found in the archaeological sites of the Chalcolithic Botai culture. Sites dating from the mid-fourth-millennium BCE show evidence of horse domestication. Analysis of ancient DNA from Botai horse specimens from about 3000 BCE reveals them to have DNA markers consistent with

11076-552: The fourth century BCE both horseback riding and mounted archery were practiced along China’s northwest frontier. In 2008, archaeologists announced the discovery of rock art in Somalia 's northern Dhambalin region, which the researchers suggest is one of the earliest known depictions of a hunter on horseback. The rock art is in the Ethiopian-Arabian style, dated to 1000 to 3000 BCE. About 4200-4000 BCE, more than 500 years before

11218-429: The free expression of natural Przewalski's horse behaviors. In 1993, eleven zoo-born horses were brought to Le Villaret. Horses born there are adapted to life in the wild, free to choose their mates, and required to forage independently. This was intended to produce individuals capable of being reintroduced into Mongolia. In 2012, 39 individuals were at Le Villaret. An intensely researched population of free-ranging animals

11360-621: The genetics of modern domestic horses. More than 150 scientists collaborated in gathering 264 ancient horse genomes from across Eurasia, dating from 50,000 to 200 B.C.E. In October 2021, results of the analysis were published in Nature . They indicated that domestication of the modern horse's ancestors likely occurred in the Volga-Don region of the Pontic–Caspian steppe grasslands of Western Eurasia . Both Tarpan and Przewalski’s horse were related to different ancestral populations than those underlying

11502-635: The geographic expansion evidenced by the presence of horse bones, new kinds of graves, named after a grave at Suvorovo , appeared north of the Danube delta in the coastal steppes of Ukraine near Izmail . Suvorovo graves were similar to and probably derived from earlier funeral traditions in the steppes around the Dnieper River . Some Suvorovo graves contained polished stone mace-heads shaped like horse heads and horse tooth beads. Earlier steppe graves also had contained polished stone mace-heads, some of them carved in

11644-477: The heads and hooves of a pair of horses were placed in a grave that once contained a chariot. Evidence of chariots in these graves was inferred from the impressions of two spoked wheels set in grave floors 1.2–1.6m apart; in most cases the rest of the vehicle left no trace. In addition, a pair of disk-shaped antler "cheekpieces," an ancient predecessor to a modern bit shank or bit ring , were placed in pairs beside each horse head-and-hoof sacrifice. The inner faces of

11786-607: The help of the San Diego Zoo Global Frozen Zoo. It is the first reported case of any endangered species having more than one clone successfully produced. This individual eventually joins Kurt and Holly at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Due to having been conceived through the transfer of a somatic cell nucleus into an egg cell obtained from a domestic horse donor, Kurt and Ollie both display the mithocondrial genome of domestic horses instead of belonging to

11928-549: The highest diploid chromosome number among all equine species. They can interbreed with the domestic horse and produce fertile offspring, with 65 chromosomes. The mitochondrial genome has 37 genes that are 99.63% identical to that of the domestic horse. Przewalski reported the horses forming troops of between five and fifteen members, consisting of a mature stallion, his mares and foals. Modern reintroduced populations similarly form family groups of one adult stallion, one to three mares, and their common offspring that stay in

12070-447: The highway that swishes its tail", and one image from his reign showed a man apparently riding a horse at full gallop. Horses were imported into Mesopotamia and the lowland Near East in larger numbers after 2000 BCE in connection with the beginning of chariot warfare , replacing the long-established kunga (a hybrid between the now-extinct Syrian wild ass and a domestic donkey ) as the main equid for warfare. A further expansion, into

12212-427: The horse became completely extinct . Classification based on body types and conformation, before the availability of DNA for research, once suggested that there were roughly four basic wild prototypes, thought to have developed with adaptations to their environment before domestication. There were competing theories: some argued that the four prototypes were separate species or subspecies, while others suggested that

12354-415: The horse's mouth normally keep the bit on the "bars" of the mouth, an interdental space where there are no teeth, forward of the premolars. The bit must be manipulated by a human or the horse must move it with its tongue for it to touch the teeth. Wear can be caused by the bit abrading the front corners of the premolars if the horse grasps and releases the bit between its teeth ; other wear can be created by

12496-469: The horse, including social behavior, learning capabilities, fear response, and agreeableness. The DNA used in this study came from horse bones 16,000 to 43,000 years ago, and therefore the precise changes that occurred at the time of domestication have yet to be sequenced. The domestication of stallions and mares can be analyzed separately by looking at those portions of the DNA that are passed on exclusively along

12638-507: The horses failed to survive World War II. The most valuable group, in Askania Nova , Ukraine , was shot by German soldiers during World War II occupation, and the group in the United States had died out. Only two captive populations in zoos remained, in Munich and in Prague , and of the 31 remaining horses at war's end, only 9 became ancestors of the subsequent captive population. By

12780-512: The horses were released into the reserve proper in September. This introduction was intended to address the buildup of dense scrub caused by the decrease in traditional sheep grazing due to rural depopulation. The horses are intended to fill a niche similar to that of the extinct European wild horse and of contemporary domesticated herbivores by opening the landscape through low-intensity grazing and browsing, thereby enhancing biodiversity and lowering

12922-595: The hypothesis that horses were domesticated in the Eurasian Steppes in approximately 3500 BC. Discoveries in the context of the Botai culture had suggested that Botai settlements in the Akmola Province of Kazakhstan are the location of the earliest domestication of the horse. Warmuth et al. (2012) pointed to horses having been domesticated around 3000 BC in what is now Ukraine and Western Kazakhstan . The evidence

13064-422: The ice and snow. Their winter diet is very similar to the winter diet of domestic horses, but differs from that revealed by isotope analysis of the historical (pre-captivity) population, which switched in winter to browsing shrubs, though the difference may be due to the extreme habitat pressure the historical population was under. In the wintertime, they eat their food more slowly than they do during other times of

13206-638: The identified animal bones in Mesolithic and Neolithic camps in the Eurasian steppes, west of the Ural Mountains. Horse bones were rare or absent in Neolithic and Chalcolithic kitchen garbage in western Turkey , Mesopotamia , most of Iran , South and Central Asia , and much of Europe. While horse bones have been identified in Neolithic sites in central Turkey, all equids together totaled less than 3% of

13348-421: The last observation of the wild horse in its native habitat was of a single stallion in 1969. Expeditions after this failed to locate any horses, and the species would be designated "extinct in the wild" for over 30 years. Competition with livestock, hunting, capture of foals for zoological collections, military activities, and harsh winters recorded in 1945, 1948, and 1956 are considered to be main causes of

13490-416: The latter was independent, involving a different wild population, from any possible domestication of Przewalski's horse by the Botai culture. Przewalski's horse is stockily built in comparison to domesticated horses, with shorter legs, and is much smaller and shorter than its domesticated relatives. Typical height is about 12–14  hands (48–56 inches, 122–142 cm), and length

13632-448: The lineage of modern Przewalski's horses. There are sporadic reports of Przewalski's horse in the historical record before its formal characterization. The Buddhist monk Bodowa wrote a description of what is thought to have been Przewalski's horse about AD 900, and an account from 1226 reports an incident involving wild horses during Genghis Khan 's campaign against the Tangut empire . In

13774-593: The longest uninterrupted history of breeding Przewalski's horses in the world and keeps the studbook of this species. The first reintroduction into the Orenburg region on the Russian steppe occurred in 2016. In May 2023, a herd of ten Przewalski's horses obtained from Monts D'Azur Biological Reserve in France was introduced by Rewilding Europe to the Iberian Highlands rewilding landscape in Spain, near Villanueva de Alcorón . Following an acclimatization period,

13916-698: The lowland Near East and northwestern China , also happened around 2000 BCE. Although Equus bones of uncertain species are found in some Late Neolithic sites in China dated before 2000 BCE, Equus caballus or Equus ferus bones first appeared in multiple sites and in significant numbers in sites of the Qijia and Siba cultures, 2000–1600 BCE, in Gansu and the northwestern provinces of China. Skeletal evidence from sites in Shirenzigou and Xigou in eastern Xinjiang indicate that by

14058-567: The majority of the horse remains found in Botai-culture settlements indeed probably were wild. On the other hand, any domesticated riding horses were probably the same size as their wild cousins and cannot now be distinguished by bone measurements. They also note that the age structure of the horses slaughtered at Botai represents a natural demographic profile for hunted animals, not the pattern expected if they were domesticated and selected for slaughter. However, these arguments were published before

14200-502: The mares often display leadership in the family. Stallions and mares stay with their preferred partners for years. While behavioral synchronization is high among mares, stallions other than the main harem stallion are generally less stable in this respect. Home range in the wild is little studied, but estimated as 1.2–24 km (0.46–9.3 sq mi) in the Hustai National Park and 150–825 km (58–319 sq mi) in

14342-434: The maternal ( mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA) or paternal line ( Y-chromosome or Y-DNA). DNA studies indicate that there may have been multiple domestication events for mares, as the number of female lines required to account for the genetic diversity of the modern horse suggests a minimum of 77 different ancestral mares , divided into 17 distinct lineages. Studies of modern horses showed very little Y chromosome diversity, which

14484-399: The mitochondrial DNA obtained from modern horses as well as from horse bones and teeth from archaeological and palaeological finds consistently shows an increased genetic diversity in the mitochondrial DNA compared to the remaining DNA, showing that a large number of mares has been included into the breeding stock of the originally domesticated horse. Variation in the mitochondrial DNA

14626-525: The modern domestic horse. Genetic evidence also connects Botai horses with Przewalski's horse in Mongolia, which has led to debates over whether Przewalski's horses should be considered a never-domesticated population or feral descendants of domesticated Botai horses. The presence of bit wear is an indicator that a horse was ridden or driven, and the earliest of such evidence from a site in Kazakhstan dates to 3500 BCE. The absence of bit wear on horse teeth

14768-549: The modern domestic horses (DOM2). In addition, researchers were able to map population changes over time as modern domestic horses expanded rapidly across Eurasia and displaced other local populations, from about 2000 BCE onwards. The genetic profile for DOM2 horses is associated with horses buried in Sintashta kurgans with early spoke-wheeled chariots, and with horses in Central Anatolia where two-wheeled vehicles were depicted. DOM2 horses also occur in some areas prior to

14910-792: The most intriguing evidence of early domestication comes from the Botai culture , found in northern Kazakhstan . The Botai culture was a culture of foragers who seem to have adopted horseback riding in order to hunt the abundant wild horses of northern Kazakhstan between 3500 and 3000 BCE. Botai sites had no cattle or sheep bones; the only domesticated animals, in addition to horses, were dogs . Botai settlements in this period contained between 50 and 150 pit houses. Garbage deposits contained tens to hundreds of thousands of discarded animal bones, 65% to 99% of which had come from horses. Also, there has been evidence found of horse milking at these sites, with horse milk fats soaked into pottery shards dating to 3500 BCE. Earlier hunter-gatherers who lived in

15052-420: The other. The evolutionary divergence of the two populations was estimated to have occurred about 72,000–38,000 years ago, well before domestication, most likely due to climate, topography, or other environmental changes. According to a 2009 study, the earliest known domestic horses were found at settlements of the Botai culture, from about 5500 years ago. These horses were raised for meat and milk. In 2018,

15194-434: The overall genetic variation in the remaining genetic material. This indicates that a relatively few stallions were domesticated and that it is unlikely that many male offspring originating from unions between wild stallions and domestic mares were included in early domesticated breeding stock. Genes located in the mitochondrial DNA are passed on along the maternal line from the mother to her offspring. Multiple analyses of

15336-504: The prototypes were physically different manifestations of the same species. However, more recent study indicates that there was only one wild species and all different body types were entirely a result of selective breeding or landrace adaptation after domestication. Either way, the most common theories of prototypes include four base prototypes: Two "wild" groups, that were believed to be never-domesticated, survived into historic times: Przewalski's horse ( Equus ferus przewalski ), and

15478-477: The risk of forest fires . Future introductions are planned. In June 2024 six mares and a stallion were reintroduced to Kazakhstan from zoos in Europe, ten years after plans were announced to do so. The operation was organised by Prague Zoo , which selected horses from various programs in Europe, which were housed at Tierpark Berlin for some months before being transported to Kazakhstan in Czech army planes. In

15620-491: The same region had not hunted wild horses with such success, and lived for millennia in smaller, more shifting settlements, often containing less than 200 wild animal bones. Entire herds of horses were slaughtered by the Botai hunters, apparently in hunting drives. The adoption of horseback riding might explain the emergence of specialized horse-hunting techniques and larger, more permanent settlements. Domesticated horses could have been adopted from neighboring herding societies in

15762-556: The shape of animal heads. Settlements in the steppes contemporary with Suvorovo, such as Sredni Stog II and Dereivka on the Dnieper River, contained 12–52% horse bones. When Suvorovo graves appeared in the Danube delta grasslands, horse-head maces also appeared in some of the indigenous farming towns of the Trypillia and Gumelnitsa cultures in present-day Romania and Moldova , near

15904-451: The size and variability of ancient horse populations. Other researchers look at the broader evidence, including skeletal and dental evidence of working activity; weapons, art, and spiritual artifacts; and lifestyle patterns of human cultures. There is evidence that horses were kept as a source of meat and milk before they were trained as working animals . Attempts to date domestication by genetic study or analysis of physical remains rest on

16046-479: The skull and hide of an animal shot in 1878 in the Gobi near today's China–Mongolia border. He would travel to the Dzungarian Basin to observe it in the wild. In 1881, the horse received a formal scientific description and was named Equus przevalskii by Ivan Semyonovich Polyakov, based on Przewalski's collection and description, while in 1884, the sole exemplar of the horse in Europe was a preserved specimen in

16188-466: The social and communication behaviors of wild Przewalski's horses. On reaching maturity at three to four years of age, Kurt is intended to become the breeder stallion for the San Diego Zoo herd to pass Kuporovic's genes into the larger captive Przewalski's horse population and thereby increase the genetic variation of the species. In 2023, a genetic twin of Kurt, named Ollie, was born from cloning with

16330-531: The springtime, they favor Elymus repens , Corynephorus canescens , Festuca valesiaca , and Chenopodium album . In early summer, they favor Dactylis glomerata and Trifolium , and in late summer, they gravitate towards E. repens and Vicia cracca . In winter the horses eat Salix spp., Pyrus communis , Malus sylvatica , Pinus sylvestris , Rosa spp., and Alnus spp. Additionally, Przewalski's horses may dig for Festuca spp., Bromus inermis , and E. repens that grow beneath

16472-511: The steppes west of the Ural Mountains, where the Khvalynsk culture had herds of cattle and sheep, and perhaps had domesticated horses, as early as 4800 BCE. Other researchers have argued that all of the Botai horses were wild, and that the horse-hunters of Botai hunted wild horses on foot. As evidence, they note that zoologists have found no skeletal changes in the Botai horses that indicate domestication. Moreover, because they were hunted for food,

16614-690: The steppes, but the horse-hunters of the steppes certainly pursued wild horses more than in any other region. European wild horses were hunted for up to 10% of the animal bones in a handful of Mesolithic and Neolithic settlements scattered across Spain , France , and the marshlands of northern Germany , but in many other parts of Europe, including Greece , the Balkans , the British Isles , and much of central Europe, horse bones do not occur or occur very rarely in Mesolithic, Neolithic or Chalcolithic sites. In contrast, wild horse bones regularly exceeded 40% of

16756-449: The successful spread of domesticated horses to observed genetic changes. They speculate that stronger backs (GSDMC gene) and increased docility (ZFPM1 gene) may have made horses more suitable for riding. The date of the domestication of the horse depends to some degree upon the definition of "domestication". Some zoologists define "domestication" as human control over breeding, which can be detected in ancient skeletal samples by changes in

16898-461: The sun during the summer and winter solstices. Przewalski%27s horse Przewalski's horse ( /( p ) ʃ ə ˈ v ɑː l s k iː z , ˌ p ɜːr ʒ ə -/ (p)shə- VAHL -skeez, PUR -zhə- ; Russian: [prʐɨˈvalʲskʲɪj] ( Пржевальский ); Polish: [pʂɛˈvalskʲi] ; Equus ferus przewalskii or Equus przewalskii ), also called the takhi ( Mongolian : Тахь ), Mongolian wild horse or Dzungarian horse ,

17040-442: The tail is about 90 cm (35 in) long, with a longer dock and shorter hair than seen in domesticated horses. The hooves of Przewalski's horse are longer in the front and have significantly thicker sole horns than feral horses, an adaptation that improves hoof performance on terrain. The karyotype of Przewalski's horse differs from that of the domestic horse, having 33 chromosome pairs versus 32, apparently due to

17182-596: The three foundation stallions of the Thoroughbred breed. A study published in 2012 that performed genomic sampling on 300 work horses from local areas as well as a review of previous studies of archaeology, mitochondrial DNA , and Y-DNA suggested that horses were originally domesticated in the western part of the Eurasian steppe. Both domesticated stallions and mares spread out from this area, and then additional wild mares were added from local herds; wild mares were easier to handle than wild stallions. Most other parts of

17324-409: The upper Ural and upper Tobol Rivers , a region today divided between southern Russia and northern Kazakhstan . Petrovka was a little later than and probably grew out of Sintashta, and the two complexes together spanned about 2100–1700 BCE. A few of these graves contained the remains of as many as eight sacrificed horses placed in, above, and beside the grave. In all of the dated chariot graves,

17466-417: The walk-through portion of the zoo include Siberian tigers , Eurasian lynx , snow leopards , lar gibbons , red pandas , ring-tailed lemurs , a colony of about 60 Tonkean macaques , cheetahs , reticulated python , wolves , pygmy goats , and Komodo dragons . On March 7, 2017, a male Southern white rhinoceros named Vince was found shot dead with one horn removed and another partially sawn off. This

17608-595: The wild in Mongolia, followed by additional animals later. One of the areas to which they were reintroduced became Khustain Nuruu National Park in 1998. Another reintroduction site is Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area , located at the fringes of the Gobi Desert . In 2001, Przewalski's horses were reintroduced into the Kalamaili Nature Reserve in Xinjiang , China. Since 2004, there has been

17750-458: The wild population until 1947, when several isolated groups were observed and a lone filly captured. Although local herdsmen reported seeing as many as 50 to 100 takhis grazing in small groups then, there were only sporadic sightings of single groups of two or three animals after that, mostly near natural wells. Two scientific expeditions in 1955 and 1962 failed to find any. After herders and naturalists reported single harem groups in 1966 and 1967,

17892-537: The wild; and a decrease in average size, thought to reflect penning and restriction in diet. Horse populations that showed this combination of skeletal changes probably were domesticated. Most evidence suggests that horses were increasingly controlled by humans after about 2500 BCE. However, more recently there have been skeletal remains found at a site in Kazakhstan which display the smaller, more slender limbs characteristic of corralled animals, dated to 3500 BCE. Some of

18034-453: The winter of 2009–2010, one of the worst dzud or snowy winter conditions ever hit Mongolia. The population of Przewalski's horse in the Great Gobi B SPA was drastically affected, providing clear evidence of the risks associated with reintroducing small and sequestered species in unpredictable and unfamiliar environments. After reintroduced horses had successfully reproduced, the status of

18176-459: The world were ruled out as sites for horse domestication, either due to climate unsuitable for an indigenous wild horse population or no evidence of domestication. Genes located on the Y-chromosome are inherited only from sire to its male offspring and these lines show a very reduced degree of genetic variation (aka genetic homogeneity ) in modern domestic horses, far less than expected based on

18318-694: The worn teeth later produced a radiocarbon date of 700–200 BCE, indicating that this stallion was actually deposited in a pit dug into the older Eneolithic site during the Iron Age . Soil scientists working with Sandra Olsen of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History at the Chalcolithic settlements of Botai and Krasnyi Yar in northern Kazakhstan found layers of horse dung , discarded in unused house pits in both settlements. The collection and disposal of horse dung suggests that horses were confined in corrals or stables . An actual corral, dated to 3500–3000 BCE

18460-473: The year. Przewalski's horses seasonally display a set of changes collectively characteristic of physiologic adaptation to starvation, with their basal metabolic rate in winter being half what it is during springtime. This is not a direct consequence of decreased nutrient intake, but rather a programmed response to predictable seasonal dietary fluctuation. Mating occurs in late spring or early summer. Mating stallions do not start looking for mating partners until

18602-578: The zone after the Chernobyl accident , so now it serves as a deserted de facto nature reserve. Though poaching has taken a toll on numbers, as of 2019 the estimated population in the Chernobyl zone was over 100 individuals. Le Villaret, located in the Cevennes National Park in southern France and run by the Association Takh, is a breeding site for Przewalski's horses that was created to allow

18744-419: The zoo on foot, an area typically accessible only by car. Despite signs and safety reminders in place, the woman entered the safari zone, where she was bitten on the neck, calf, and back by the wolves. At first, reports indicated her life was in danger, but later updates confirmed her injuries were no longer life-threatening. Other attractions at the château include a maze and several gardens. The castle itself

18886-505: Was a Przewalski horse stallion named Kuporovic, born in the UK in 1975 and relocated three years later to the US, where he died in 1998. Due to concerns over the loss of genetic variation in the captive Przewalski's horse population, and in anticipation of the development of new cloning techniques, tissue from the stallion was cryopreserved at the San Diego Zoo's Frozen Zoo . Breeding of this individual in

19028-690: Was also introduced to the Hortobágy National Park puszta in Hungary; data on social structure, behavior, and diseases gathered from these animals are used to improve the Mongolian conservation effort. An additional breeding population of Przewalski's horses roams the former Döberitzer Heide military proving ground , now a nature reserve in Dallgow-Döberitz , Germany. Established in 2008, this population comprised 24 horses in 2019. Another population

19170-466: Was carried out by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), whereby a viable embryo is created by transplanting the DNA -containing nucleus of a somatic cell into an immature egg cell ( oocyte ) that has had its nucleus removed, producing offspring genetically identical to the somatic cell donor. Since the oocyte used was from a domestic horse, this was an example of interspecies SCNT. The somatic cell donor

19312-426: Was formally described as a novel species in 1881 by Ivan Semyonovich Polyakov . The taxonomic position of Przewalski's horse remains controversial, and no consensus exists about whether it is a full species (as Equus przewalskii ); a subspecies of Equus ferus the wild horse (as Equus ferus przewalskii in trinomial nomenclature , along with two other subspecies, the domestic horse E. f. caballus , and

19454-548: Was found that modern domestic horses are not closely related to the horses at Botai. Rather, Przewalski’s horses were identified as feral descendants of horses herded at Botai. Evidence suggested that "a massive genomic turnover" had occurred along with the domestication of horses and large-scale human population expansion in the Early Bronze Age. Subsequent research showed that horse lineages from Iberia and Siberia, also associated with early domestication, had little influence on

19596-423: Was identified at Krasnyi Yar by a pattern of post holes for a circular fence , with the soils inside the fence yielding ten times more phosphorus than the soils outside. The phosphorus could represent the remains of manure. The appearance of horse remains in human settlements in regions where they had not previously been present is another indicator of domestication. Although images of horses appear as early as

19738-544: Was one of the most genetically valuable Przewalski's horses in the North American breeding program. The first birth by artificial insemination occurred on 27 July 2013 at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute . In 2020, the first cloned Przewalski's horse was born, the result of a collaboration between San Diego Zoo Global , ViaGen Equine and Revive & Restore . The cloning

19880-425: Was originally interpreted as evidence of a single domestication event for a limited number of stallions combined with repeated restocking of wild females into the domesticated herds. However, more recent studies of ancient DNA show that Y chromosome diversity was significantly higher a thousand years ago. The low present diversity may be partially explained by the popularity of Arabian and Turkoman studs, especially

20022-464: Was rejected by Alan Outram and colleagues in a paper which was not dated or peer-reviewed. Taylor reiterated his arguments that Przewalski's horse had never been domesticated in an article in Scientific American in 2024. In any case, the Botai horses were found to have negligible genetic contribution to any of the ancient or modern domestic horses studied, indicating that the domestication of

20164-419: Was reported as being the first such live animal poaching at a European zoo. Thierry Duguet, the head of the zoo, said "There has never been a case like this in a zoo in Europe, an assault of such violence, evidently for this stupid trafficking of rhinoceros horns ". In June 2024, a 37-year-old woman was attacked and severely injured by three wolves at the zoo. The woman ventured into the American reserve area of

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