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Tarpan
The Tarpan was a wild horse of Eastern and
Southeastern Europe. Most likely it was grulla in color, although according to
some sources some may have been dun-colored as well. While some zoologists
considered the Tarpan the ancestor of all domestic horse breeds, others claimed
the Tarpan to have been not a real wild horse, but a feral horse (a domestic
horse which reverted to the wild).
There are some strong indications that the Tarpan
was indeed a true wild horse. Zoologists failed to recognize its importance
though, and scientifically describe it, while it was still around.
The Tarpan became extinct in the 19th century.
So-called Tarpans exhibited in zoos and elsewhere are products of a
reconstruction project and not authentic. The closest thing to the real Tarpan
we have today is the Polish primitive horse, or Konik, which has been preserved
from direct Tarpan descendants and is not the product of a breeding program
that involved horses and ponies of different - and unrelated - breeds.
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