FReepmail me to be added or removed to the ECO-PING list!
Sounds more like a distinct population segment!
Posted on 12/18/2005 6:03:33 PM PST by blam
'Extinct' wild horse roams again
By Charles Clover
(Filed: 19/12/2005)
The wild horse has been saved from extinction after a successful programme to reintroduce captive-bred horses to their natural habitat in Mongolia.
A working group of scientists at London Zoo has now recommended that Przewalski's horse, previously characterised as "extinct" in the wild, should now be listed as "endangered".
It is a rare case of a species climbing away from extinction. If the new status is accepted by IUCN, the World Conservation Union, scientists say it will be a milestone for large mammal conservation.
In 1945, there were only 31 of Przewalski's horses in captivity, but by the early 1990s there were more than 1,500, and reintroductions began in their harsh native environment in Mongolia.
Nick Lindsay, of the Zoological Society of London, said: "There were concerns that, having bred for 13 generations in captivity, the animals would not be able to survive in the wild.
"However, there are now 248 free-ranging Przewalski's horses in the wild, a factor which has resulted in their remarkable status reclassification."
Przewalski's is the only true wild horse and is genetically dissimilar to the domestic horse, having a different number of chromosomes. It was discovered by a Russian, Col Nikolai Przewalski, in 1879.
It was hunted heavily by local people from the 17th century and its extinction in the wild came through further hunting at the end of the Second World War. The decline was exacerbated through agriculture in its natural habitat.
Not yet but if mine ever bites me I'm biting back:')
I was hoping for a five toed Eohippus!
Ha! Us Neanderthals have been breeding successfully for years.
FReepmail me to be added or removed to the ECO-PING list!
Sounds more like a distinct population segment!
Actually, in this case (for once), I might call it a separate species on the strength of having a different number of chromosomes than the horse. Some experiments to determine if the two could produce viable progeny are possibly in order.
Perhaps, but many salamanders (I believe plants as well)have different numbers of chromosome yet fall under the DPS. I still don't think we have a firm grasp on what a species really is.
A distinction of interest only to the legally debauched.
I concur wholeheartedly, especially in the plant kingdom. I've got vicia on my property that is a hybrid of European and domestic varieties. I've got dandelions that are viable hybrids of annual and perennial "species" (annual/perennial itself being somewhat arguable as some can behave either way depending upon climate).
Bingo. Dumping this stupid model would be the greatest boon to botany since Mendel. People might actually start studying specimens in situ for what they are and how they behave, instead of what they resemble, whether you can name it after yourself, and if you can get a grant to "protect" it.
Cool!
It's Eeyore!
No, but smart-ass "long pig" is digestible if it's prepared correctly.
Note: this topic is from 12/18/2005. Thanks blam.
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