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A FRENCH team of anthropologists havediscovered an equine species that wasthought to have become extinct a longtime back. Spotted in the remoteRiwoche region of north-east Tibet, thespecies was known only through depictions in cave paintings (Time, Vol 146,No 22).
The team, led by Michel Peissel,chanced upon these horses in a deepvalley positioned in the midst of towering mountain passes located at analtitude of about 5,000 m. The isolatedvalley reflects a 'lost world' kind ofatmosphere, which has kept away thehorses from other breeds for thousandsof years. As Peissel puts it, "the creationand perpetuation of breeds arises fromisolation and this may well be the mostsecluded area in the world".
Called the Riwoche horses by theFrench team, this is a breed which hasnever been identified earlier. Some scientists suspect that these horses couldvery well be the missing link in equineevolution. The horses are very differentfrom the breeds found in surroundingareas like the Nangchen ponies, whichwere also discovered by Peissel in 1994.
The Riwoche horses are similar inmany ways to much older breeds ofhorses, for they too sport beige coats,black bristly manes and zebra-likestripes on the back and legs. "The angular shape of the body and the head inparticular, is like that of the horsesfound in stone age cave paintings,"asserts Peissel. It is suspected that thesehorses are about five million years old.
Stephen Harrison, a geneticist at theRoyal Agriculture College in Britain,shall carry out the DNA testing of theblood samples collected to determinethe relationship of the Riwoche withother equine species. Peissel believesthat the forest lying along the 27-krnlong valley where this species was discovered is a remnant of an ancientecosystem cut off from the rest of theworld- The sighting of another rare animal - the white-lipped deer - in thesame area, supplements the team's suppositions.
But Harrison adds a word of cautionby pointing out that a modern animalspecies could revert to primitive colouring if left in the wild for a number ofgenerations. In his view, a number ofknown breeds resemble the wild horsespecies. Further, he warns that "it wouldbe premature to say these horses are anew species. Without conducting tests,it is impossible to tell whether this is agroup of wild horses which have evolvedin isolation or a feral population whichwas once domesticated and has sinceturned wild".
But nothing is likely to dampen thespirits of those who discovered theRiwoche horse. As Peissel says, "trueexploration involves setting out to findone thing and discovering another.After all, if you set out to discoversomething you are already convinced isout there, waiting, it is not exactly adiscovery when you find it".