With the alias of Equus Przewalskyi, it
belongs to the Eqiodae family of Perissodactyla order. It Latin scientific name
is Equus przeqalskii, and English name is Wild Horse.
It is a large-size ungulate, with 220 to 280
centimeters in body length, more than 120 centimeters in shoulder height, and
over 200 kilograms in body weight. It has long and large head, thick neck, and
wide and round hoofs. Its summer hair is light brown, with both sides of the
body and inner sides of four limbs in light colors, and the belly in milky
yellow; its winter hair is slightly long and thick in lighter color, with russet
long hair on two cheeks.
The key distinction between wild horses and
home horsesEquusprzewalskii is that, Wild Horse has
proportionally larger head, smaller ears, and white mouth, with short bristling
mane on the neck, no forelock on the forehead.
It inhabits at the smooth slope of the
upland meadow, desert and Gobi with better water and grass conditions. Wild
Horse is alert and good at running. Leading a traveling life, generally it lives
in groups of 5 to 20 led by a strong male horse. It mostly goes to fount and
brook side for drinking water in the morning and dusk following fixed routes. It
is fond of eating grass and reeds, and in winter it can dig out snow covering to
look for wilted hay as food. Its estrus and mating period is in June, with
littering period in April to May of the next year. It has one baby per fetus,
and the foal can run following the group several hours after birth. Under
breeding condition, it has a lifespan of about 30 years, with the longest of 34
years.
Originally Wild Horse was distributed in the
area of Baytik Mountain in Junggar Basin of northern Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region and Mazong Mountain at the trans-border of Gansu Province and
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It is estimated that wild population is
already extinct, since it was last found in 1957. At present a certain quantity
of wild horses still live in techno-sphere fostering or half loose keeping
state. Since late 1980s, wild horses have been introduced from Europe into Qitai
County of Xinjiang Autonomous Region and Wuwei of Gansu Province in China under
half loose keeping, for scientific experiments and research in order to let wild
horses return to nature.
Wild Horse has been listed in
Appendix I of International Trade Convention on Endangered Wild Animal
and Plant Species.