| Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range | |
|---|---|
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area) | |
  | |
| Location | Carbon County, Montana, and Big Horn County, Wyoming, United States |
| Nearest city | Billings, Montana |
| Coordinates | 45°03′12″N 108°19′21″W / 45.05333°N 108.32250°W |
| Area | 39,650 acres (160.5 km2) |
| Established | September 9, 1968 |
| Governing body | Bureau of Land Management |
| Website | Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range |
The Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range is a refuge for a historically significant herd of free-roaming mustangs, the Pryor Mountain mustang, feral horses colloquially called "wild horses",[1] located in the Pryor Mountains of Montana and Wyoming in the United States. The range has an area of 39,650 acres (160.5 km2)[2] and was established in 1968 along the Montana–Wyoming border as the first protected refuge dedicated exclusively for mustangs.[3] It was the second feral horse refuge in the United States.[4] About a quarter of the refuge lies within the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area.[5] A group of federal agencies, led by the Bureau of Land Management, administers the range.[6]
Because of the unique genetic makeup of the Pryor Mountain mustang herd, equine geneticist Dr. E. Gus Cothran concluded in 1992 that "the Pryor herd may be the most significant wild-horse herd remaining in the United States."[7] Dr. D. Phillip Sponenberg, equine veterinarian at Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, agreed, noting, "[These animals] don't exist anywhere else."[8]
- ^ Technically, a wild horse is one that has never been domesticated and that is not descended from domesticated horses. There is only one truly wild subspecies extant in the world today, the Przewalski's horse of Mongolia. A feral horse is a free-roaming, untamed horse that is descended from domesticated ancestors. All horses that were once native to North America died out between 13,000 and 9,000 years ago. Current free-roaming horses in North America are descendants of European, Middle Eastern, and North African horses brought to the North America mainland beginning with the arrival of Hernan Cortez in the early 1500s. See: Hill and Klimesh, p. 46. There is an ongoing dispute whether the mustang is a reintroduced native species or an introduced invasive species. Thus, the choice of terms can be politically loaded. Some argue that the term "feral horse" denies the horse's prehistoric existence in North America and human beings' role in exterminating it from the continent, while others say that the term "wild horse" denies that the modern horse was introduced by Europeans. See the discussion in: "Are Wild Horses Native to the U.S.? A Federal Court Seeks the Answer," Los Angeles Times, June 5, 2011, accessed 2011-06-06. There is ongoing debate about terminology and the significance of genetic differences between feral and wild horses.
- ^ Massingham, p. 7.
- ^ Lynghaug, p. 104.
- ^ Flores, p. 121. The Nevada Wild Horse Range was established in 1962. However, the land that forms the range was already part of the weapons testing range of Nellis Air Force Base. It was not the first refuge established solely for the protection of wild horses, as the range also served the armed forces.
- ^ "Wild Horses." Billings Field Office. Bureau of Land Management. United States Department of the Interior. May 2, 2011. Archived May 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2011-05-18.
- ^ "Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range." Billings Field Office . Bureau of Land Management. U.S. Department of the Interior. May 2, 2011. Archived May 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2011-05-27.
- ^ Quoted in Ryden, p. 320.
- ^ Cohen, Betsy. "Survivors of Time: Lost Horses of the Pryor Mountains," The Missoulian. August 15, 1999. Accessed 2011-06-07.