- Heck horse
The Heck horse is a
breed ofhorse that resembles the extincttarpan . This breed was created by the Germanzoologist sLutz Heck andHeinz Heck in their attempt to recreate the tarpan.They started their "back breeding" programme in the early 1930s. They believed that all living creatures were the result of their genetic make-up and that
gene s could be rearranged like the pieces of a puzzle to recreate certain vanished species. Only breeds that still had living descendants could be recreated because those living breeds would be a source for genetic material. The tarpan still has these living descendants in the form of domestic horse breeds. The brothers selected PolishKonik s, Icelandic Ponies, Swedish Gotlands and Polish Primitive Horses from the preserve inBiałowieża .Mares from these horse breeds were then mated to stallions of the
Przewalski horse , because the Heck brothers felt that the blood of thiswild horse would serve as a catalyst to draw out the latent tarpan characteristics dormant in these more modern breeds. At first the Przewalski horse influence was too strong, but by 1960s the brothers succeeded in producing a horse which resembled the skeletal evidence of the extinct tarpan in the archives of theTierpark Hellabrunn , the zoological garden in Munich. One characteristic of the true tarpan that the Heck brothers did not succeed in recreating are the upright manes.The first bred-back "tarpan" or Heck horse, a colt, was born May 22, 1933 at the Tierpark Hellabrunn in
Munich , Germany. These horses still survive as "Heck horses".References
* Maas, P.H.J. 2006. Selective breeding. The Extinction Website. Downloaded at 27 August 2006.
* Maas, P.H.J. 2006. Tarpan - Equus ferus ferus. The Extinction Website. Downloaded at 27 August 2006.
* Department of Animal Science at Oklahoma State University. 1998. Breeds of livestock - Tarpan Horse. Downloaded at 27 August 2006.ee also
*
Heck cattle External links
* [http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/speciesinfo/tarpan.htm The Extinction Website - Species Info - Tarpan]
* [http://www.tarpanassociation.com North American Tarpan Association]
* [http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/horses/tarpan Breeds of Livestock - Tarpan Horse]
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