This wild horse is the last true wild horse. The horse has a large stocky body with short legs, a rather short neck and a very powerful jaw. The color of the wild horse is a grayish-brown. These horses have upright manes. The tail has long black hair too. One of the adaptations is the rhythm of they're body weight. The length of the head to the body length is 210 cm and the tail length is 90 cm, and the weight is 350 kg.

The przewalski's horse has occupied deserts and shrub land like places, like what is shown in the picture above. They also used to live in Europe. They were once found in central Asia mostly by the Gobi Desert. They were discovered in Mongolia in the 1880's. The wild horse did well in the ecosystem because of the place they lived and because of they're bodies. The world's largest captive breeding program for Przewalski's horses is at the Askania Nova preserve in Ukraine. Also before their population decreased, these horses lived on steppe vegetation, shrub land, and plains.

The przewalski's horse is extinct to the wild. They're status is threatened or endangered. It is now only raised in captivity. They are also being reintroduced to they're old habitats instead of being in captivity. They're population is growing because of them being raised in captivity. There are not very many Przewalski's horses left. They live in very small herds and they're lifespan is up to at least 20 years of age.

The wild horse is a herbivore, so its diet consists of grass and plants. It also eats hay and grain in captivity. Since it is in captivity it spends most of the day snacking on the plants and grasses that it eats. Because they're in captivity they don't have to compete for their food. The horses are just given areas in captivity to eat so they have no competition for they're food. Now they don't have any predators because they are protected in captivity. But one of the predators they had in the wild and the ones that are being reintroduced to the wild is hunters.

Now for interesting facts about the przewalski's horse, one thing that I found interesting about the przewalski's horse is that the Mongols name for the przewalski's horses is "takhi," which means "spirit". I also thought the fact that they are classified as extinct in the wild is interesting.

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Author: Steven H
Published: 02/2007

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Sources:
www.arkive.org/spieces/GES/mammals/Equus_Ferus_Przewalskii/ http://nationalzoo.si_edu/Animals/AsiaTrail/fact-phorse.cfm www.treemail.nl/takh/downloads/booklet.pdf
www.monartozp.com.au/meetanimals.php.id=599

Photo Credit: (2048 × 1536 pixel, file size: 1.99 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg) eigen foto. GerardM 14:33, 24 August 2005 (UTC)