Przewalski's horse

I've always loved horses, and when I was little, thanks to a science book I had, I learnt all about the progression of eohippus through merychippus to the modern horse, and one of the great fascinations was the Przewalkski's horse, the only real wild horse in the world, and the one most closely related to all those horse ancestors. I say wild because they've never been domesticated, unlike brumbies here and mustangs in the US, which both originally came from domestic stock.

I always dreamed that one day I'd see a Przewalki's horse in the flesh, but didn't think it would ever really happen because I thought I'd have to go to Mongolia to see one. These days I don't rule out that possibility.

Last weekend though, we went to the Werribee Open Range zoo and to my astonishment there they were. Two of them. Not too close to the safari bus, and my recalcitrant camera had decided to die, but did let me squeeze out one picture of them. How wonderful. What a shame the guide who asked us all sorts of questions never asked if anyone knew what these animals were. I bet he wouldn't have expected anyone to know -- though, really, the hardest part about their name is saying it. Quite tricky, but then so's the spelling.