Even 150-200 years ago, in the steppes of southern Europe and even in the forest-steppe zone, wild horses, or tarpans, as the local population called them, were found in relatively large numbers. The origin of the tarpan and its relationship with other wild and domestic horses is one of the most controversial issues in European faunal history. Many have disputed the original wild nature of this horse, recognized only as a descendant of feral domestic animals. Factual data by which it is possible to identify the characteristics of the tarpan, in comparison with other wild and domestic representatives of the equine family, are very scarce. Currently, Tarpan has been exterminated. The only complete skeleton in the world and another skull have been preserved, stored in the collections of the Zoological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Zoological Museum of Moscow University. In addition, there is a detailed description of the animal to which the last skull belonged. It should be noted that the purebred and typicality of these “Shatilovsky” tarpans (named after the author who delivered them) is highly questionable, although both animals were caught in the wild. Moreover, they were both castrated males.
There is no doubt that from the earliest times of the appearance of domestic horses in the areas where the tarpan was distributed, there was a mixing of wild and domestic populations. Already in the first reliable news about the tarpans and all the time later, information was reported that wild stallions captured mares from domestic herds into their shoals. Crossbreeding with domestic horses over the centuries could not but affect the appearance of the wild tarpan. His type changed. However, there can hardly be any doubt that it was a primordial wild animal that lived since prehistoric times over a vast territory of Europe, and possibly Asia. This is supported, in addition to the art monuments of ancient man, by a number of typical signs of external morphology, such as coloring, which are persistently preserved even in crosses with domestic horses and noted by the overwhelming majority of people who have seen a tarpan alive in a natural environment. The local population always perfectly distinguished in schools of tarpans not only feral domestic mares, but also crosses of the latter with wild stallions.
Structure of tarpans
According to surviving descriptions and images, the appearance of the tarpan can be characterized by the following features. This is a relatively small horse, with a height at the withers from 107 to 136 cm and with a body length that is sometimes less, sometimes slightly greater than the height. The head is relatively large, rough, with wide ganaches (intermaxillary space), with a short but rather thick and high muzzle, a convex crown and a forehead somewhat depressed between the eyes. The profile of the head at the root of the nose is concave. The muzzle is sometimes slightly hook-nosed. The ears are pointed, erect, about 17 cm long. In the area of ganaches, elongated hair often formed something like a beard. The neck is straight or concave at the top (“deer”), thick and short; its length along the upper edge is about 56 cm. The head was held high. For earlier tarpans, a short, erect or semi-erect mane is typical, but in the latest described (“Shatilovsky”) specimens it was long, up to 50 cm, hanging down on both sides of the body. The bangs, unlike half donkeys and Przewalski's horses, are well developed. The tail is shorter than that of domestic horses, usually covered throughout with long hair, but sometimes at the root there is short hair at some distance. The lengthening of the mane and tail may be either the result of the influence of conditions in the home environment, or an indicator of the influx of blood in the domestic horse. The chest is wide, the ribs are steep; the chest circumference behind the shoulder blades of the last “Shatilovsky” tarpan was 167 cm. The back and lower back are straight, the withers are satisfactorily developed. The width of the pelvis is 48 cm. The limbs are short, but “dry”, with clearly defined tendons and muscles; shoulder straight. Both the front and hind legs have well-developed “brushes” (tufts of long, coarse hair on the back of the fetlock joints). The hooves are high, “glass-shaped”, like all representatives of the subgenus Equus, wide and rounded; the front ones are noticeably wider than the rear ones. Chestnuts, in contrast to the Przewalski's horse, are found only on the forelimbs.
The characteristic coat color (coat) of the Tarpan was dark mouse-gray (“mousy”), lighter on the underside (“ashy”), sometimes with tan marks (a reddish tint) in the groins. The bangs, mane, long hair on the tail, legs below the carpal and ankle (hock) joints are dark brown, almost black. There is faint striping on the front legs. A very characteristic feature of the same color is the middle narrow stripe along the back from the end of the mane to the beginning of the long hair on the tail. By winter, the hairline became thick and long, acquiring an ashy hue. Foals have slightly wavy fur with a reddish tint. The deviation in adulthood from the typical mouse coloration undoubtedly indicated an admixture of domestic horse blood.
Compared to E. przewalskii, the skull of the tarpan is characterized by a smaller overall size (the main length is not more than 470 mm), a short muzzle, convexity of the braincase and a large depression of the frontal-facial profile, a somewhat relatively wider incisal part of the lower jaw, a relatively shorter row of molars of the upper jaws (36.5% of the main length of the skull). The auditory canals are short, no more than 5% of the main length of the skull, directed almost straight to the sides; when looking at the skull from above, their ends barely protrude beyond the contours of the temporal ridges. The height of the front part of the skull in front is no more than 21% of its main length. The vomer index, compared to half-shafts, is high. The pharyngeal tubercles are located in front of the torn opening. The posterior edge of the nasal notch is located no further than at the level of the middle. At the lower edge of the entrance to the nasal cavity, paired comb-like tubercles on the premaxillary bones are very weakly expressed. The symphysis of the lower jaw is long, more than 20% of its length. The space between the branches of the mandibular bone narrows gradually and does not form an expansion in the anterior part. Cups are developed on all incisors.
The number of thoracic 4-lumbar vertebrae is 24.
History and origin of tarpans
The early history of tarpan is currently not entirely clear. Wild horses lived in Eurasia throughout the glacial and post-glacial periods. However, comparison of their skeleton with the only surviving skeleton of the “Shatilovsky” tarpan does not allow us to place the latter in a direct genetic connection with the Pleistocene horses of Europe. Tarpan has some features of the teeth (short protocone on the upper molars) and limbs (extraordinary massiveness of the phalanges with thinness of the metapodia), which are not consistent with the general direction of evolution characteristic of European horses, if it is considered a direct descendant of the latter. This circumstance leads us to suggest that he represented a descendant of horses that moved into Europe from somewhere outside already in the post-glacial period (V.I. Gromova). A comparison of the tarpan with horses of the post-glacial era cannot be carried out due to the lack of knowledge of domestication changes in the skeleton and, as a result, the impossibility of determining whether we are dealing with the remains of wild or domesticated animals.
The remains of a horse, almost indistinguishable from a tarpan, were found in one of the human sites (the village of Pogorelovka, Chernigov region) from the transition period from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic, when the horse was probably not yet domesticated. Cave images dating back to the Paleolithic indicate that a horse, very close in type to the tarpan, was distributed at that time over a vast area of Europe and Asia from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
Tarpan habitat
The first news of wild horses in the historical era dates back to the 5th century. BC e. At this time they are observed for Spain, Polesie and the upper reaches of the river. Buga. There is a wealth of information relating to the Middle Ages of Western Europe, Lithuania and Poland. In Prussia, for example, wild horses existed until the end of the 16th century.
On the territory of ancient Poland, in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, dark gray wild horses appeared at the beginning of the 15th century. (1409) served as the subject of a royal hunt. Here they existed until the middle of the 18th century, when the last of them were moved to the hunting park of one of the Polish counts and Zamosc near Bilgoraj (Lublin Voivodeship). The existence of tarpans in Poland was brought to an end by the harsh winter of 1812/13, when the animals that survived death in Count Zamoyski's park were distributed to the surrounding population and disappeared into the population of local domestic horses. The surviving descriptions indicate that these “forest tarpans,” as they are now called, differed little from their southern Russian steppe counterparts. According to some people who collected information about them (Vetulani, 1928, 1933), they represented only a few steppe tarpans that shredded and adapted to forest life.
The "forest tarpan" type is well preserved in the primitive domestic horses of some areas of Poland, in particular in the Bilgoraj region. Based on them, attempts are being made to “restore” it in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (Vetuliani, 1952). According to data collected by S.V. Kirikov (1952), wild horses were kept in Lithuanian and Belarusian forests until the middle of the 18th century.
Tarpans survived longer on the Kherson and Tauride steppes between the Dnieper and Don, which were still little developed at that time. In the 30s of the XIX century. they were numerous along the entire Azov-Black Sea coast from Kuban and Manych to the lower reaches of the Bug. They were also found in remote places, in forests and swamps, on the border of the Voronezh province and the Don region. But from that time on, their area of distribution began to shrink rapidly. By the 60s, only isolated schools remained within the Kherson and Tauride provinces. Of these schools in 1854 and 1866. I.N. were also caught. Shatilov delivered to the Academy of Sciences and the Moscow Zoological Garden two (the first and the last), which became the property of science, tarpan, apparently with a noticeable admixture of the blood of a domestic horse, the skeleton of which was mentioned earlier. The last female tarpan was thought to have been killed in 1879 (Falz-Fein, 1919). But in 1934 a note appeared (Geptner, 1934) that a very old, but according to the description, a typical male in 1914-1918. lived out his life in one of the privately owned farms - “Dubrovka”, near the city of Mirgorod, Poltava province; the animal was caught as a foal from a school of wild horses exterminated by the German colonists. Thus, the disappearance of the tarpan in the wild should be attributed to the very end of the 19th century.
The reasons for the gradual reduction of the range and decrease in the number of tarpan, up to complete extinction, were direct extermination by humans and the agricultural development of virgin steppes - its main stations.
In the Middle Ages, the meat of wild horses was eaten, and this served as one of the incentives for the persecution of animals. No less important role in the extermination of the tarpan was played by the harm that wild horses brought to the human economy. In addition to their destruction of hay reserves, which Gmelin already wrote about, the reason for the intense persecution of the tarpans was the widespread theft of domestic mares by wild stallions into their schools, from where the latter never returned. Therefore, when a school of wild horses appeared near settlements, the local population tried to drive it away or destroy it. There were different methods of hunting wild tarpans. A difficult method of pursuit was used until complete fatigue on horseback; for this, as a rule, replacement, substitute horses were required, but even in these cases it was possible to drive only a female or foal separated from the rest of the school, usually a pregnant one. The capture described by S. Gmelin in placed nets was practiced. Moreover, since the tarpans kept in schools of 6 - 7 to 30 heads under the leadership of an adult stallion, the hunt was more successful when the leader was destroyed first; then the animals, rushing about in disorder, more easily fell into the nets. Sometimes in winter, tarpans were driven onto smooth ice or into deep snow-covered ravines, where the helpless animals were tied up or killed.
Agricultural development of steppes and semi-deserts played a significant role in the disappearance of the tarpan. Wild horses could hardly stand the close proximity of settlements and, with the plowing of the steppes, they increasingly moved into uninhabited places, even into swamps and forests that were unusual for them.
Taming tarpans was possible only when they were caught at the age of foals. But even in this case, the animals had a restless character and could be used mainly only for riding. Males had to undergo castration to tame their violent temperament. As already noted, tarpans interbred freely with domestic horses and probably produced fertile offspring. Crossbreeds were valued for their speed of running and great endurance in work.
Wild horses such as the Tarpan are probably the ancestors of some groups of domestic horses. Thus, the mentioned Polish horses, even in size and color, represent little changed descendants of the “forest tarpans,” or horses depicted by Paleolithic man. I once observed the “beard” characteristic of horse horses on local horses in the Novgorod region. The Tarpan type appears externally and according to craniological characteristics in a number of offspring of primitive horses in Galicia, Bosnia, Bukovina, and the Eastern Carpathians. B.F. Rumyantsev (1936) came to the conclusion that the tarpan is the ancestor of all groups of domestic horses of the northern type.
After this work was written, an interesting article by V. G. Heptner “Notes on Tarpan” (1955) appeared. On the question of whether the South Russian tarpan was a primordially wild species or a feral domestic horse, our opinions agree, since we analyzed, and without bias, essentially the same materials. Our points of view also agree that in the last decades of its existence, the Tarpan population had a noticeable admixture of blood from local domestic horses.
However, I do not agree with V.G. Heptner in the systematic interpretation of the tarpan and Przewalski's horse. Combining these two forms into one type is not justified. Firstly, he himself repeatedly emphasizes that these are “sharp races”, that morphologically they are “polar”. Secondly, accusing V.I. Gromova (1949) of a tendency towards a narrow interpretation of the species, the respected author himself reveals a one-sided, purely morphological approach to this issue.
Two populations of animals, even if very close in origin, but due to geographical, physiological isolation or other reasons, ceased to interbreed in a natural environment and, due to an independent path of evolution, acquired real morphological differences after divergence, should, in my opinion, belong to different species .
They are considered almost extinct. Of the huge number of species that once lived in the steppe zone of the Eurasian continent, only Przewalski's horses remain to date. But even their population is relatively small and comes from only a few animals that remained alive by the beginning of the twentieth century.
True wild horses are considered virtually extinct
The science of taxonomy, which deals with determining the relationship of biological species, believes that numerous varieties of wild horses were relatives. This family has survived almost to this day and was exterminated in the 19th century. By this time there were 2 types:
- forest tarpan;
- steppe tarpan.
Another species that has recently been considered to belong to the same genus is the Przewalski's horse.
As follows from the names of the species, they lived in the steppe and forest-steppe zones. The first of these species was widespread in the European part of the continent. Light broad-leaved forests, interspersed with wide steppe areas, served as a refuge for the forest species of wild horses in Lithuania, Poland, and Belarus. A favorite pastime of the nobility of Europe was driven hunting for large ungulates (deer, elk, wild boar). Horses were also one of the objects of entertainment. The herd was surrounded and the animals were shot.
Huge herds of tarpans (up to several hundred heads) consisted of separate groups, each of which had an adult stallion and 10-15 mares with foals of different ages. Young males remained in the parental group until they were 3 years old, after which the leader of the herd expelled them. Sexually mature stallions were forced to create their own harem families, staging fierce fights with rivals during the rut. Very often they beat off domestic mares, driving them away from their herds. The hunt for tarpans was caused not only by the desire to have fun or get fresh meat.
One of the reasons for shooting wild horses was their encroachment on domesticated herds.
The steppe horse Tarpan inhabited vast areas belonging to modern Kazakhstan, Western Siberia, Transbaikalia and the pre-Altai plains. The animals were slightly different from their forest counterparts. They had a more powerful build, a hook-nosed head, and a short and thick neck. In winter, horses in the steppe changed color. From brownish-yellow (savras), with transverse stripes on the legs, they became gray or mousey with a black stripe along the back, overgrown with dense curly hair. This coloring made them completely invisible on snowy plains in winter and against the background of burnt-out steppe grass in summer.
Wild horses (video)
Gallery: wild horses (25 photos)
Is it possible to revive wild horses?
The strong, hardy animal was domesticated back in the 4th century BC. It is believed that the first to domesticate it were the inhabitants of the same steppes (Scythians and Sarmatians). Thanks to cultural exchanges between different peoples, horse breeding gradually spread throughout all the countries where wild Tarpan horses lived. And to this day, some local horse breeds (Yakut, Bashkir) retain the external characteristics of tarpans: a short neck, a heavy hook-nosed head, the ability to grow a warm fur coat in severe frosts and stripes on their legs.
In 1808, the owner of a bankrupt menagerie in the Polish city of Zamosc was forced to distribute to local peasants a small number of forest tarpans that lived in captivity. By this time, there were almost no wild individuals left (the latter were exterminated after 5 years). But on peasant farms, strong and hardy horses took root and gave birth to local outbred animals. The foals gave rise to the local Polish Konik breed.
At the beginning of the last century, enthusiasts in Poland and Germany made attempts to restore the ancient species of wild horses. The Heck brothers, German zoologists and owners of the Munich Zoo, crossed specially selected representatives of domestic horse breeds that showed signs of primitive ancestors. The new breed has an appearance that is strongly reminiscent of the tarpans that have disappeared from nature. Phenotypically, the Heck horse has a short massive body, strong legs, a powerful neck and a heavy head. Her coat is quite long and wavy, and her color is gray with a black belt on her back.
Tarpan(lat. Equus ferus ferus) - extinct ancestor modern horse . There were two forms: steppe tarpan And forest tarpan . Lived in the steppe and forest-steppe zones of Europe, as well as in the forests of Central Europe. Back in the 18th-19th centuries it was widespread in steppes of several European countries , southern and southeastern European parts Russia, Western Siberia and on the territory of Western Kazakhstan.
"Tarpan"- from a combination of two ancient Turkic roots “tor” and “ban” - “net” - “snare” and “tied” - “tangled”, respectively. The word has been preserved in some modern Turkic languages, in particular, in Karachay-Balkar it means a horse that is freely grazing.
Zoological description
Steppe tarpan He was of small stature with a relatively thick hook-nosed head, pointed ears, thick short wavy, almost curly hair, which lengthened greatly in winter, a short, thick, curly mane, without bangs and a medium-length tail. The color in summer was uniform black-brown, yellow-brown or dirty yellow, in winter it was lighter, mouse-like (mouse color) with a wide dark stripe along the back. The legs, mane and tail are dark, with zebroid markings on the legs. The mane, like that of Przewalski's horse, is erect. Thick wool allowed tarpans to survive cold winters. Strong hooves did not require horseshoes. The height at the withers reached 136 cm. Body length was about 150 cm.
Forest tarpan differed from the steppe in slightly smaller size and weaker physique.
The animals were found in herds, the steppe ones sometimes containing several hundred animals, which broke up into small groups with a stallion at the head. Tarpans were extremely wild, cautious and timid.
Spreading
The homeland of tarpan is Eastern Europe and the European part of Russia.
In historical times, the steppe tarpan was widespread in the steppe and forest-steppe of Europe (up to approximately 55° N), in Western Siberia and in the territory of Western Kazakhstan. In the 18th century, many tarpans were found near Voronezh. It was found in Ukraine until the 70s of the 19th century.
The forest tarpan inhabited Central Europe, Poland, Belarus and Lithuania. In Poland and East Prussia he lived until the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. Forest tarpans, who lived in a menagerie in the Polish city of Zamosc, were distributed to peasants in 1808. As a result of free crossing with domestic horses, they produced the so-called Polish Konik - a small gray horse similar to the Tarpan with a dark “strap” on the back and dark legs.
Extinction
It is generally accepted that the steppe tarpans became extinct due to the plowing of the steppes for fields, displacement in natural conditions by herds of domestic animals and, to a small extent, extermination by humans. During winter hunger strikes, tarpans periodically ate hay reserves left unattended right in the steppe, and during the rutting period they sometimes captured and stole domestic mares, for which people persecuted them. In addition, the meat of wild horses has been considered the best and rarest food for centuries, and the corral of a wild horse demonstrated the virtues of a horse under a rider, although the tarpan was difficult to tame.
At the end of the 19th century, a cross between a tarpan and a domestic horse could still be seen in the Moscow Zoo.
The forest tarpan was exterminated in Central Europe in the Middle Ages, and in the east of its range - in the 16th-18th centuries; the latter was killed in 1814 on the territory of the modern Kaliningrad region. In the Polish part of Belovezhskaya Pushcha, from individuals collected from peasant farms (in which tarpans ended up at different times and gave birth), the so-called tarpan-shaped horses (koniks) were artificially restored, outwardly looking exactly like tarpans, and released into the wild. Subsequently, tarpan-shaped horses were brought to the Belarusian part of Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
In 1999, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) brought 18 horses to the vicinity of Lake Papes in southwestern Latvia as part of a project. In 2008, there were already about 40 of them.
Since ancient times, horses have been considered human companions: they were used during great migrations, for military purposes, and simply for transporting goods. Perhaps someone was wondering how long ago horses appeared? What did the ancestor of the horse and zebra look like? Outwardly, these two animals are so similar to each other. We will try to understand these and other interesting questions in the article.
Evolution of the equine family - from Eohippus to the modern horse.
Archaeological excavations have proven that the very first ancestors of horses began to appear 50–60 million years ago. The remains of animals were found both on the territory of the North American continent and in the European part of the world. They were named, respectively, Eohippus and Hyracotherium.
At that time, the entire surface of the Earth was covered with dense vegetation, and its recently appeared inhabitants, mammals, easily adapted to the new conditions and used the forest for shelter from predators. The small size of the animals helped with this.
Eohippus was small in stature - at the withers it reached no more than 30 cm. In its appearance, it vaguely resembled a modern horse. The paws had toes instead of the usual hooves, with four on the front and three on the back. The tail was up to 20 cm long and looked more like a cat's tail. The same can be said about the structure of the slightly elongated skull.
The only reason that prompted scientists to call this animal the ancestor of the horse was the fact that, in addition to small animals and insects, Eohippus supplemented its diet with young shoots of plants. He had developed molar chewing teeth, similar to those that nature gave to modern horses.
The first representative of the equine family was Eohippus, which translated means “Horse of the Dawn.”
Orohippus
About 20–30 million years ago, the hyracotheriums were replaced by the survival-adapted orohippus. Despite the fact that the number of species of this animal has already reached two hundred, only the one mentioned above continued the evolutionary chain of modern horses.
The growth of this fossil horse was already a little taller - it reached a confident half a meter. A short mane was formed from the protruding hair, and the tail was similar to a horse. Hooves had not yet formed on the animal’s paws, but the development of the middle fingers was already observed, which became larger and rougher. At this time, the lateral ones turned into bone growths rather than fingers.
This transformation of the beast began with their migration from a completely forested area to the steppe, where they had to move on harder ground. Moreover, in the flat expanses, Orohippus had a noticeable speed advantage, which made it possible to escape from predators.
Merigippus
The next important and long-term link in the development of the species was the merigippus, which appeared about 20 million years ago. Their feet were still three-toed, but the middle toe became more and more like a hoof. The teeth were considered fully chewable, because these ancestors ate exclusively plant foods.
The animal's height of 90 cm and unique flair gave reason to consider the species as close as possible to the modern horse.
Anchiterium
Along with many other species, Anchitheria appeared in North America, and then in Europe. These animals became even larger than their ancestors and reached the size of a modern pony. The middle finger has become even more pronounced than the side fingers.
During this period, cooling began on the planet, which led to an increase in the area of steppes and the retreat of forests. These climate changes began to affect the ancient horses, which in turn had to adapt in order to survive.
Anchiterium looked like a small horse and reached the size of modern ponies.
The appearance of the anchytherium began to change: the legs became longer, and the front part of the skull lengthened.
Hipparion
Hipparion, known as the first prehistoric horse that completely got rid of its lateral toes, began to populate vast areas of America, Eurasia and even Africa. He did not yet have hooves, but his appearance was most similar to a horse. Extinct completely 1.5 million years ago.
Pliohippus
Constant climate change began to further change the habitats of horses. When, about 15 million years ago, on the territory of modern Africa, the moist soil began to turn into a savannah with dry soil, the hipparions began to be replaced by pliohippus, which also populated Europe and Asia. This species became the ancestor of the Przewalski's horse, zebra, donkey and other equids. However, plyohippus could not resist natural disasters and completely disappeared from the face of the Earth, passing on the branch of development to the modern horse.
In North America, horses became extinct during global cooling, but appeared there again during the discovery of the continent by European colonialists.
Przewalski's horse
It appeared several thousand years ago and has survived to this day. It was discovered by the scientist N.M. Przhevalsky in Tibet. Currently, it lives in pristine natural areas in Asia, in protected reserves and zoos. Recognized as the likely wild ancestor of the domestic horse. The animal's height is already 130 cm, and its weight is over 300 kg.
The Przewalski's horse has survived to this day and is recognized as the probable ancestor of domestic horses.
This horse can also be found in the city of Pripyat, in the exclusion zone, where scientists brought 17 heads for further breeding. The experiment was successful, since now there are already 59 individuals.
Tarpan
Tarpan, according to many scientists, is also the predecessor of the modern horse. He has a trained gray body and an erect mane - typical features of wild horses. The horse was mentioned in 1900 as a domesticated resident of a private Polish menagerie that belonged to the Zamoyski household. Later, the animals were given to peasants who started breeding them. However, the tarpan did not tolerate captivity and began to die out. The last living wild tarpan was seen in 1980.
Modern horse
This is the only branch of evolutionary development that has survived to this day. Most live in captivity and serve humans. In rural areas, horses are used as horse-drawn vehicles for transporting goods. Horse clubs are being formed in the suburbs, where anyone can book a horse ride through the forest.
Scientists have proven that horseback riding is therapeutic for people suffering from musculoskeletal diseases. This is how hippotherapy appeared.
Horses are associated with historical events and great figures. For example, an entire city, Bucephalus, was named after the famous horse of Alexander the Great. During the time of the Russian Tsar, Ivan the Terrible, a small change coin was minted with the image of a rider with a spear on a horse - a spearman, which was eventually called a kopeck.
About 150 years ago, tarpans, short wild horses, lived in the forest-steppe and steppe zones of the southern part of our country.
Today, the remains of these animals are found over a large area - from the shores of the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic.
Tarpans were relatively small in size. The body was covered with thick and short hair.
The color was rich gray. A dark stripe ran along the back. The mane, legs and tail were also dark. The legs often had dark stripes, like .
The reason for the disappearance of the Tarpans, as always, was a person with an uncontrollable desire for destruction. The species was wiped off the face of the earth only because herds of these wild horses caused great damage to agriculture. Tarpans trampled crops, did not allow livestock to graze, and domestic horses often left behind their herds.
But people exterminated wild horses not only for revenge, but also for their tasty meat. Hunters shot them en masse and used them for food. Such actions led to a sharp decline in numbers by the middle of the 19th century. And already at the beginning of the 20th century, these wild horses were officially recognized as a destroyed species.
The last tarpan to be kept in captivity died in 1918. Today in nature there is only one species related to these short horses -
