Przewalski's Wild Horse

Extinct in the Wild

Equus ferus

Size: Almost 7 feet long, 4 - 4.8 feet to the shoulder, up to 770 pounds

Range/Habitat: Once from Manchuria to Spain, recently in China and Mongolia in steppe vegetation, grassy shrublands and plains

Przewalksi’s wild horse has 66 chromosomes, two more than domestic horses have. This calls its taxonomic status into question. Some scientists argue over how closely it is really related to the domestic horse, and whether or not it should be considered directly related to the domestic horse. It was first described by Nikolai Przewalski when he returned with a skull and pelt. The horse is shorter and stockier than his domestic cousins, with a spiky mane like a zebra, and striped legs like a Somali wild ass.

Conservation Concerns:

Przewalski’s wild horse first existed during the last ice age and was spread across Europe and Asia, but as the ice retreated, the horse’s range shrunk with it. In the 20th century, human herders over grazed the land and captured the wild horses as pets driving the species to extinction. There have been attempts to reintroduce some herds into Mongolia and China to restore wild populations. Today there are roughly 1500 individuals with 250 free ranging in the Mongolian steppe region.