"Tarpan in literature was traditionally described as a gray-colored horse. Through genetic analysis of archaic DNA from thousands of years old bones, published in 2009 showed that bet on the gray coloration was a mistake, "says study co-author, Miloslav Jirků from the Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. On a sample of several dozen wild horses found across Eurasia in fact it showed that the original color of wild horses were bay. Thus, in shades of brown fur, mane, tail and lower legs black
The main source description tarpana happened observation botanist and traveler, Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin, who watched the 1769 herd of horses near Voronezh. Coloring animals, according to him myšovité, but occurred in the herd and animals white and gray. Now gray Gmelin considered typical of the wild horses, even in his description of himself drew attention to the strong influence of domestic horses.
Doubts about whether the real tarpan wild horse and whether they were original dun horses, appeared in the literature for decades. For example, Colonel H. Smith in 1841 expressed the idea that travelers mention a horse with a gray color and upright mane describe actually feral domestic donkeys. Other scientists considered tarpana from the outset myth that biological species never existed, and argued that it was probably a rogue hybrid Mongolian and Arabian horses. Already in 1888 he named Professor Carl Vogt tarpana as "degenerate horses from Asia."
"These critical views but remained for many decades in the minority and information about gray-colored Tarpan especially from the 30s of the 20th century prevailed in most of the literature," says Dalibor Dostal, director of Czech landscape conservation and study coauthor.
Archaic to modern DNA analysis confirmed that this was indeed a mistake. Convincing evidence of the comparative morphological analysis of only two preserved skulls Russian tarpan and 83 samples of different breeds of horses. It turned out that in one case it is obviously the skull of a domestic horses, the second at best a hybrid of a horse home, which the authors concluded by stating that the tarpan does not meet the criteria for classification as a separate species.
Even the name is a tarpan designation for wild horses in Europe is relatively new and unoriginal. For thousands of years there have been domesticated Perrisodactyla referred to simply as the Broncos. Tarpan term begins to appear until the mid-19th century.
This designation used by Asian buyers, who through Central Asia in trade with Ukraine. Originally Tarpan to label wild light, or rather feral horses of Central Asia. In contemporary literature tarpan is also cited as the progenitor of fast Arabian horses and described in contrast to the smaller and more robust European horses. Only later did he use the term tarpan also the last surviving wild horse in Europe.
Based on the new findings, the scientists thus returning to the original naming of a wild horse.
The myth of the tarpan gave birth to two breeds of horses. Gray-colored Konik Polish and German Heckův horse should be accurate reconstruction of the original appearance of wild horses in Europe. Currently there are so vivid reminder of the mistake some scientists that literature rooted for decades.
Source: Ekolist.cz
