Have you dreamed of studying wild or feral horses when you grow up? Dr. Brian Hampsonco-founder of the Australian Brumby Research Unitis part of a team studying the only remaining true wild horsePrzewalski’s horse. Let’s take a look at Przewalski horses and see what makes this breed unique.

Science Talk – feral: having escaped from domestication and become wild. What we often think of as “wild horses,” such as mustangs and the Australian Brumbiesare actually feralhaving descended from domesticated animals that escaped and adapted to life in the wild.

Horses were domesticated about 5,500 years agoand were initially used for milk and meat. Researchers estimate humans started riding horses around 3,000 years ago.

According to Hampsonat least 87 breeds have already gone extinctand 25% of the approximately 900 breeds of horses remaining are endangered.

1. About how many of the remaining breeds are not endangered?

What does it mean for a horse breed to be listed as endangered? According to the Rare Breeds Survival Trustfor a horse breed to be listed as endangeredmeans there are only 300 to 500 registered breeding females left.

In the 1960sthe Przewalski’s horsewhich originated in Mongoliacame back from near extinction. Current numbers are near 2,000 worldwide thanks to careful breeding of 16 captive horses in the 1970s.

2. What Watchlist category does the Przewalski horse belong in?

Hampson and his team studied the Przewalski herd that lives in Hungary on Europe’s largest steppe area, collecting data on heart ratebody temperaturemovementgrazing habitsdietand location.

They made some interesting observations. During the winterthe herd goes into a torpor—their heart rates drop by halfbody temperature by up to six °F and in body weight by 20%.

Science Talk – torpor: a state of physical or mental inactivity

Adult Przewalski horses weigh between 200-300 kg (440-660 lb).

3. How much weight would you expect a 200 kg (440 lb) Przewalski horse to lose over a winter?

4. How much would you expect a 300 kg (660 lb) Przewalski horse to weigh at the end of a winter?

The normal resting heart rate for adults horses is 32 to 44 beats per minute (bpm). Do you know how to calculate a horse’s heart rate? It’s covered in the Horse Science section of the Level 1 workbook and also herein this postabout a grade 5 school science project on how different activity levels affect a horse’s heart rate.

5. Estimate the winter resting heart rate for a Przewalski mare whose heart rate was 38 beats per minute in September.

6. Estimate the summer resting heart rate for a Przewalski stallion whose winter heart rate was 21 beats per minute.

A Przewalski’s horse spends most of the day foraging for foodeating 12 to 15 pounds of grass per day. Hampson and his team found that during the winterthe horses stood for long periodseating only one-third of their usual diet.

7. During summer monthsif a horse normally ate 12 lb (5.4 kg) of grass per dayhow much would they eat in a week?

8. How much would you estimate this same horse would eat in a week during the winter?

It appears that natural movement for these horses is somewhere within the range of 5 to 10 km/day (3.1 to 6.2 miles/day).

Do you ride? What have you observed with the domestic horses you see at the barnhoused in much smaller paddocks? How much movement are they getting? It takes an area of at least 4 ha (hectare) for domesticated horses to achieve the same level of movement as horses in the wild! How big is a hectare?

1 hectare = 10000 sq m = 2.47 acres

9. Are hectares and acres a measure of area or perimeter?

10. How many acres would you need to equal 4 ha?

11. How many square metres would you need to equal 4 ha?

Sometimes it is hard to picture how big something is using just numbers—better to compare. To give an idea of how big 4 ha islet’s look at the size of a soccer field. Professionalregulation-sized soccer fields are about 2.69 acres.

12. How many soccer fields would it take to fill 4 ha?

The reason Przewalski’s horse is called the only true remaining wild horse is that they’re the only species of horse never to be domesticated. I don’t know about youbut when I read that it left me wondering why?

If you have an answer to this question share it with others by leaving your answer in the comment box below.

 

 

 

 

1. About how many of the remaining breeds are not endangered?
Answer: As is often the casethere are different ways of discovering the answer.
One Option:
You know that 25% of the remaining breeds are endangered. That means that the remaining 75% are not (100% − 25% = 75%).
900 × 75% = 900 × .75 = 675. Six hundred seventy-five horse breeds are not endangered.

Another Option:
Step 1: 900 × 25% = 900 × .25 = 225. This is the number of breeds that are endangered.
Step 2: 900 − 225 = 675. Six hundred seventy-five horse breeds are not endangered.

2. What Watchlist category does the Przewalski horse belong in?
Answer: Minority; 2000 is > 1500 and < 3000.

3. How much weight would you expect a 200 kg (440 lb) Przewalski horse to lose over a winter?
Metric Answer:
200 kg × 20% = 200 kg × .20 = 40 kg.
You would expect a 200 kg Przewalski horse to loose 40 kg over the course of a winter.

US Customary Answer:
440 lb × 20% = 440 lb × .20 = 88 lb.
You would expect a 440 lb Przewalski horse to loose 88 lb over the course of a winter.

4. How much would you expect a 300 kg (660 lb) Przewalski horse to weigh at the end of a winter?
Metric Answer:
Step 1: 300 kg × 20% = 300 kg × .20 = 60 kg.
Step 2: 300 kg − 60 kg = 240 kg.
You would expect a 300 kg Przewalski horse to weigh 240 kg at the end of a winter.

US Customary Answer:
Step 1: 660 lb × 20% = 660 lb × .20 = 132 lb.
Step 2: 660 lb − 132 lb = 528 lb.
You would expect a 660 lb Przewalski horse to weigh 528 lb at the end of a winter.

5. Estimate the winter resting heart rate for a Przewalski mare whose heart rate was 38 beats per minute in September.
Answer: 38 bpm × 1/2 = 19 bpm. Her heart rate might drop to 19 bpm during the winter.
Did you use a different strategy to estimate her heart rate? Share how you arrived at the answer in the comment section below and get a free copy of Mustang Brandsthe first section of the Level 2 workbook!

6. Estimate the summer resting heart rate for a Przewalski stallion whose winter heart rate was 21 beats per minute.
Answer: 21 bpm × 2 = 42 bpm. This stallion’s summer resting heart rate might be about 42 bpm.

7. During summer monthsif a horse normally ate 12 lb (5.4 kg) of grass per dayhow much would they eat in a week?
Metric Answer: 5.4 kg × 7 (number of days in the week) = 37.8 kg. This horse would eat about 37.8 kg of grass in a week.

US Customary Answer: 12 lb × 7 (number of days in the week) = 84 lb. This horse would eat about 84 lb of grass in a week.

8. How much would you estimate this same horse would eat in a week during the winter?
Metric Answer: 37.8 kg × 1/3 = 12.6 kg. This horse would eat about 12.6 kg of grass in a week.

US Customary Answer: 84 lb × 1/3 = 28 lb. This horse would eat about 28 lb of grass in a week during the winter.

9. Are hectares and acres a measure of area or perimeter?
Answer: Area

10. How many acres would you need to equal 4 ha?
Answer: 4 × 2.47 acres = 9.88 acres. There are 9.88 acres in 4 ha.

11. How many square metres would you need to equal 4 ha?
Answer: 4 × 10000 sq m = 40000 sq m. There are 40000 sq m in 4 ha.

12. How many soccer fields would it take to fill 4 ha?
Answer: 9.88 acres/ha ÷ 2.69 acres/soccer field = 3.67 soccer fields. It would take 3.67 soccer fields to fill 4 ha of space.

Common Core:
4.OA.A – Use the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems
4.MD.A.3 – Area and perimeter: word problems
5.NBT.A – Understand the place value system.
5.NBT.B – Perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths.
5.NF.B.4b – Area and perimeter: word problems
6.NS.B.3 – Fluently addsubtractmultiplyand divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm for each operation.
6.G.A – Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving areasurface areaand volume.
6.RP.A.3c – Find a percent of a quantity as a rate per 100

Photos:
Przewalskis mare and foal; Public Domain
Przewalskis in the snow; Public Domain
France Lozère Causse Méjean Chevaux de Przewalski 17 by Ancalagon; CC BY-SA 2.0
Lone Przewalskis; Public Domain