page_title: Tarpan
section_title: Extinction
hierarchical_section_title: Tarpan / Extinction
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Иллюстрация из энциклопедического словаря Брокгауза и Ефрона (1890—1907) English: Illustration from Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (1890—1907)
context_page_description: The tarpan, also known as Eurasian wild horse, was a subspecies of wild horse. It is now extinct. The last individual believed to be of this subspecies died in captivity in the Russian Empire during 1909, although some sources claim that it was not a genuine wild horse due to its resemblance to domesticated horses.
  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, 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". However, those who study the history of the ancient wild horse assert that the word "tarpan" describes only the true wild horse.
context_section_description: The human-caused extinction of the tarpan began in Southern Europe, possibly in antiquity.  While humans had been hunting wild horses since the Paleolithic, during historic times horse meat was an important source of protein for many cultures. As large herbivores, the range of the tarpan was continuously decreased by the increasing human population of the Eurasian continent. Wild horses were further persecuted because they caused damage to hay storages and often took domestic mares from pastures. Furthermore, interbreeding with wild horses was an economic loss for farmers since the foals of such matings were intractable. Tarpans survived the longest in the southern parts of the Russian steppe. By 1880, when most "tarpans" may have become hybrids, wild horses became very rare. In 1879 the last scientifically confirmed individual was killed. After that, only dubious sightings were documented. As the tarpan horse died out in the wild between 1875 and 1890, the last considered-wild mare was accidentally killed during an attempt at capture. The last captive tarpan died in 1909 in a Russian zoo.
  An early 19th-century attempt was made by the Polish government to save the tarpan type by establishing a preserve for animals descended from the tarpan in a forested area in Białowieża. In 1780, a wildlife park was established protecting a population of tarpans until the beginning of the 19th century. When the preserve had to close down in 1806, the last remaining tarpans were donated to local farmers and it is claimed that they survived through crossbreeding with domestic horses.  The Konik is claimed to descend from these hybrid horses. Recent research has highlighted a significant degree of anatomic difference between free-roaming Konik in the Netherlands and the modern domesticated horse.
caption: Illustration of a running individual
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