Monday, July 14, 2008

The Nordic Ark, July 12th 2008. Part Eight

Next up: Przewalski's wild horse (Equus caballus przewalskii), the world's only remaining wild horse. They have never been domesticated. These animals are actually extinct in the wild, we learned. :-( Efforts are being made to reintroduce them now, but apparently there are no more of them truly living in the wild. Humans suck. :-(

The Ark has a little herd of these beautiful animals - we saw five, but I seem to recall that the sign said that they have seven. They were rather small horses with shortish legs and no bangs, and light-colored dun coats with dark legs. It was interesting to see them - especially since I saw them on a TV documentary very recently, like a few days before seeing them in the flesh - but to be honest, I've never been much of a horse fan. :-) Plus, the next exhibit coming up was one I was extremely interested in ... so, well, this wasn't my favorite part. Certainly worth seeing, but horses have never been my cup of tea.

The five that we saw were all either standing inside their shelter or milling around just outside it. My guess would be that it was too hot for them to be very active. They are native to Mongolia and so probably aren't very well adapted to heat.

(Photo credit: top & bottom: me; middle: KAS)

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