Tarpan

For other uses, see Tarpan (disambiguation).

Tarpan
Temporal range: Early Pleistocene–Holocene
↓
The "Cherson tarpan", the only tarpan to be photographed, 1884

Extinct (1909)  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Equidae
Genus: Equus
Species:
E. ferus
Subspecies:
†E. f. ferus
Trinomial name
†Equus ferus ferus
Boddaert, 1785
Synonyms

The tarpan (Equus ferus ferus) was a free-ranging horse subspecies of the Eurasian steppe from the 18th to the 20th century.[1] It is generally unknown whether those horses represented genuine wild horses, feral domestic horses or hybrids.[1] The last individual believed to be a tarpan died in captivity in the Russian Empire in 1909.[2]

Beginning in the 1930s, several attempts were made to develop horses that looked like tarpans through selective breeding, called "breeding back" by advocates. The breeds that resulted included the Heck horse, the Hegardt or Stroebel's horse [fr], and a derivation of the Konik breed, all of which have a primitive appearance, particularly in having the grullo coat colour. Some of these horses are now commercially promoted as "tarpans", although such animals are only domestic breeds and not the wild animal themselves.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference DPK was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bunzel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).