equus przewalskii

equus przewalskii

Wild horse (scientific name: < iequus ferus < / I, < iequus ferus < / I ssp. < iprzewalskii < / I): body length is about 210 cm, shoulder height is about 110 cm, tail length is 90 cm, weight is 350 kg. The head is long, the neck is thick, the ear is shorter than donkey, the hoof is wide and round. It looks like a horse, but has no long hair on the forehead, short and erect neck mane. The summer hair is light brown, the color on both sides and the inside of the limbs is light, the abdomen is milky yellow; the winter hair is slightly long and thick, the color becomes light, and the cheeks have long reddish brown hair.

It inhabits in mountain grassland and desert. He is alert and good at running. Generally, the strong male horse is the leader to form a group of 5-20 horses, and the camp is a nomadic life. It was originally distributed in BEITASHAN, Junggar basin, Xinjiang, China, and MAZONGSHAN at the junction of Gansu and Inner Mongolia. Since the end of 1980s, wild horses have been brought back from Europe to Xinjiang and Gansu for semi free culture, and scientific experiments and research work have been carried out for wild horses to return to nature. (overview picture reference source:

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morphological character

The wild horse is a large hoofed mammal with a body length of about 210 cm, a shoulder height of about 110 cm, a tail length of 90 cm and a body weight of 350 kg. In proportion, the head is large and short, the neck is short and thick, the mouth and nose are sharp, the mouth is blunt, the teeth are thick, and the ears are small and slightly pointed. The ears are short and sharp with spots on the mouth and nose. The forehead hair is very short or absent, not like a horse with long forehead hair. The back is flat, with obvious dark dorsal line, extending from the shoulder to the tail along the spine; the limbs are short and thick, the hair on the inside of the legs is gray, there are often two to five obvious black stripes, and the lower part of the legs is black, commonly known as "outing" legs. The hooves are smaller, tall and round. Tail base with short hair, tail thick and long, almost hanging to the ground, tail shaped like a bundle, not like the horse is long hair from beginning to end.

There are 66 chromosomes in przewalskii wild horse, one more pair than domestic horse. The overall shape is like a horse, but there is no long hair on the forehead, and the neck mane is short and upright. The body hair is brownish yellow and turns to yellowish white gradually towards the abdomen. There is a dark brown midline in the middle of the waist and back. The mane is short and hard, dark brown, retrograde and erect, not like a horse hanging on both sides of the neck. The tail is long hairy from the base of the tail, short in the upper part and long in the lower part.

Habitat

The wild przewalskii wild horse inhabits on the gentle slope of the mountain steppe, open Gobi desert and desert, Gobi with slightly better water and grass conditions.

Life habit

The wild horse is alert and good at galloping; generally, the strong male horse is the leader to form a group of 5-20 horses to live in the camp. More in the morning and evening along the fixed route to the spring, stream drinking. Three or five, or more than ten, roam in groups. After eating, the individuals in the group often clean their skin from each other, generally stand in the opposite direction, then extend their heads to the side of their peers, and gently nibble at each other's carapace, shoulder, back, buttocks, etc. Both sides are gnawing at the same part. When one side changes the part, the other side immediately changes accordingly. The cooperation is very tacit and perfect. Sometimes they also take care of themselves, including rolling, self brushing and dispelling mosquitoes and flies, especially in the sand. The rest and sleep have three kinds of postures: standing, abdominal lying and lateral lying, but the vigilance is very high. Sensitive feeling, high vigilance, strong running ability, day and night activities, but mostly at night.

It feeds on Achnatherum splendens, Haloxylon ammodendron, Phragmites australis and red willow in the desert. In winter, it can dig snow to feed on withered grass. The amount of drinking water is also very large. There are also many kinds of calls. At the beginning of the fight, they emit a sharp and single roar; when they are out of group, they emit a loud and high calling signal; when they feel satisfied, they emit a slight voice; when they feel disgusted, they emit a sharp and thin voice. More often, the expression of emotions is very complex, mostly to intimidate each other, and sometimes it is caused by foreign bodies in the nasal cavity, mosquito interference, odor stimulation or cold illness and other factors.

Distribution range

Regional extinction: Belarus, China, Germany, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Poland, Russian Federation, Ukraine.

Re introduction: Mongolia, China.

Mode of reproduction

Proctor's wild horse can be estrous all year round, but mainly in spring and summer. The estrous cycle of female is 28-22 days, and the duration is 5-7 days. Oestrus for the performance of the spirit of excitement, loss of appetite, irritability, restlessness, and so on.

In order to compete for the position of the leader, the male horses stand still with their heads raised, their eyes staring, their ears facing forward, then hiss, their front hooves scratching the ground, their noses ringing, their heads running down, their nostrils puffing out thick air. When they get close to each other, they sniff and purr their ears, glare at each other, raise their front hooves, give out sharp and short roars, and then stand up their forefathers to fight together. Their fighting is more cruel and fierce than domestic horses It's much stronger. There are also some aggressive behaviors among the females, mainly the high status ones, who often protect their food and prevent other females from mating with the males.

Before mating, the male and female sniff each other's perineum and external genitalia, then the female turns her hips toward the male, and the male gently bites the female's neck or knee to push the female forward, then climbs, and ejaculates after 3-7 pelvic impulses. A strong male can mate with two females eight times in 30 minutes. The gestation period of the female horse is about 307-348 days, and the next May to June. The baby is light brown at birth and can be nursed after 2 hours. The sexual maturity is about 3 years old and the life span is about 30 years old.

Artificial captivity

As early as shortly after the discovery of Przewalski's wild horse, some research institutions and museums in Russia, France, Britain and other countries had a great interest in Mongolian wild horse. At first, because it was difficult to capture Przewalski's wild horses, only some skulls and skins were transported back to Europe one after another for research and preservation. After several attempts, it was found that adult wild horses could hardly be captured (they were very alert, and they escaped very fast), so people chose to capture the newborn ponies. From 1899 to 1903, a total of about 50 wild horses were transported to Europe one after another, becoming the first batch of Mongolian wild horses to be raised artificially.

However, due to the influence of the war in the early 20th century, the number of wild horses raised in captivity did not expand. Even by the end of the Second World War in 1945, there were less than 20 wild horses left in Prague, Czech Republic and Munich, Federal Republic of Germany, and only half of them had reproductive capacity. At present, almost all the wild horses raised in the world were 10, 3 males and 7 females The descendants of the Chinese. The only exception is askanya Nova wildlife park in Ukraine. In order to rebuild the wild horse herd, in addition to buying some wild horses from Munich and Prague, it also bought a real wild horse from the national horse breeding farm of Mongolia in 1957 (captured in 1947).

After World War II, the number of Przewalski's wild horses in captivity in various countries continued to increase. However, as the whole captive population, the origin of Przewalski's wild horses only came from more than 10 wild horses, the decline caused by inbreeding was very serious. Through people's efforts, the number of Przewalski wild horses in captivity has reached 1500 in the world, but this problem still exists.

Population status

In 1878, the expedition team led by Czarist sergeant prevarsky entered qiusha River and Dishuiquan area from Qitai to Balikun in Junggar basin for three times to capture and collect wild horse specimens. In 1881, the expedition team was officially named as "Przewalski wild horse" by Czarist poliyakov. Because the wild horse lives in the extremely difficult desert Gobi, lack of food, lack of water, low temperature and snowstorm attack. And the killing of human beings and the destruction of its habitat accelerate the process of its extinction. In the past century, the distribution area of wild horses has shrunk sharply, the number of wild horses has decreased sharply, and they are on the verge of extinction in nature. In 1947, one wild horse was captured in Western Mongolia and sent to the zoo in Ukraine for breeding. Since then, no wild horse has been found.

In 1957, one wild horse was caught between Yemaquan and Mingshui in Subei County, Gansu Province. In 1969, a small group of eight wild horses was seen in the Junggar Basin in Xinjiang. In 1971, local hunters saw a single wild horse. In the early 1980s, wild horses were found in the area between the ulungu River and the Kalamaili mountain in the East Junggar basin, but there is no conclusive evidence. Later, news of the discovery of wild horses often came from Xinjiang, but it was confirmed that all they saw were wild donkeys. China is very concerned about the survival of wild horses. In 1974, 1981 and 1982, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinjiang University and other units organized investigation teams to investigate the origin of wild horses in Junggar desert, Wulungu River, Kalamaili mountain and Beita mountain. Combined with aerial investigation, they tried to find wild horses. The results were disappointing. Most people think that if there are still wild horses in nature, the number is too small to form a population, so it is not enough to ensure the survival of a species, so the wild Przewalski wild horses are likely to have disappeared in nature.

In the 1960s, Mongolia first declared the extinction of wild horses. As the hometown of Przewalski's wild horses, Xinjiang in China, due to the continuous large-scale hunting of 28 foals in Russia, Germany, France and other countries, and the large-scale killing in China, was finally eliminated in the 1970s

Chinese PinYin : Pu Shi Ye Ma