Konik
Encyclopedia
The Konik or Polish primitive horse is a small horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

, a kind of semi-feral horse
Feral horse
A feral horse is a free-roaming horse of domesticated ancestry. As such, a feral horse is not a wild animal in the sense of an animal without domesticated ancestors. However, some populations of feral horses are managed as wildlife, and these horses often are popularly called "wild" horses...

, originating in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. The Polish word konik (plural koniki) is the diminutive
Diminutive
In language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form , is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment...

 of koń, the Polish word for "horse" (sometimes confused with kuc, kucyk meaning "pony"). However, the name "konik" or "Polish konik" is used to refer to certain specific breeds. Koniks show many primitive markings
Primitive markings
Primitive markings among domestic horses are a group of hair coat markings and qualities associated with primitive breeds, and the dun coat color family in particular. All dun horses possess at least the dorsal stripe but the presence of the other primitive markings varies...

 including a dun coat and dorsal stripe.

In 1936, Professor Tadeusz Vetulani
Tadeusz Vetulani
Dr. Tadeusz Bolesław Vetulani was a Polish agriculturalist and biologist, associate professor of Adam Mickiewicz University in animal husbandry...

 of Poznań University began attempts to breed the recently extinct tarpan
Tarpan
Tarpan is an extinct subspecies of wild horse. The last individual of this subspecies died in captivity in Russia in 1909....

 back to its original state. To achieve this he used horses from the Biłgoraj area descended from wild tarpans captured in 1780 in Białowieża Forest and kept until 1808 in Zamoyski
Zamoyski
Zamojski, plural: Zamojscy is the surname of an important Polish nobility family of Jelita coat of arms. The name is sometimes spelled Zamoyski. It is the Polish for "de Zamość" - the name they originally wore as lords of the place...

 zoo. These had later been given to local peasants and crossbred with domestic horses. The Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 government commandeered all the koniks that displayed tarpan-like features. The result of this selective breeding program is that semi-wild herds of koniks can be seen today in many nature reserves and parks, and can also be seen in the last refugium in Białowieża Forest.

Vetulani's breeding program is one of several attempts at breeding back
Breeding back
Breeding back can be described as either a natural or a human attempt to assemble or re-assemble the genes of an extinct species, subspecies or domesticated breed, which may still be present in the larger gene pool of the overall species or those of multiple interbreedable species.Breeding back is...

 the Tarpan. Other programs resulted in the Heck horse
Heck horse
Heck horse is a horse breed that resembles the extinct wild equine, the Tarpan, . The breed was created by the German zoologist brothers Heinz Heck and Lutz Heck, director of the Berlin Zoo, at the Tierpark Hellabrunn in Germany in their attempt to breed back the tarpan...

.

Nature reserves

As it is phenotypically very close to the extinct Tarpan
Tarpan
Tarpan is an extinct subspecies of wild horse. The last individual of this subspecies died in captivity in Russia in 1909....

, the original European wild horse
Wild Horse
The wild horse is a species of the genus Equus, which includes as subspecies the domesticated horse as well as the undomesticated Tarpan and Przewalski's Horse. The Tarpan became extinct in the 19th century, and Przewalski's Horse was saved from the brink of extinction and reintroduced...

, it has been introduced into many nature reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

s in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 such as the Oostvaardersplassen
Oostvaardersplassen
The Oostvaardersplassen is a nature reserve in the Netherlands, covering about . Despite having developed recently it already has international importance as a European wetland....

.

In Maastricht
Maastricht
Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...

, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, a herd was released in 1995, in 'de Kleine Weerd', a 12 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

 strip of land (roughly 100 m by 1 km) along the river Meuse
Meuse
Meuse is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

. The area is open to the public, but people are advised not to go near the horses because their reaction is unpredictable. Following the success of this program, Koniks were also brought to Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

 and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, where they were placed in Wicken Fen
Wicken Fen
Wicken Fen is a wetland nature reserve situated near the village of Wicken, Cambridgeshire, England.It is one of Britain's oldest nature reserves, and was the first reserve acquired by the National Trust, in 1899. The reserve includes fenland, farmland, marsh, and reedbeds...

 near Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

 by the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...

. Due to the efforts of the Wildwood Trust, a charity which operates the Wildwood Discovery Park
Wildwood Discovery Park
Wildwood Discovery Park is a woodland discovery park in north-east Kent, England. It features over fifty species of native British animals such as deer, badgers, wild boar and wolves...

, and the Kent Wildlife Trust
Kent Wildlife Trust
Kent Wildlife Trust covers the county of Kent, England, and is one of the largest of the 47 Wildlife Trust organisations in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and Alderney...

, Koniks also now live on several more reserves, including the Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve, Ham Fen National Nature Reserve, Whitehall Meadow, Sandwich Bay
Sandwich Bay
Sandwich Bay is a long sweeping inlet of the sea between Ramsgate and Deal, on the east coast of Kent, England. The coastal area consists of sand flats with their associated salt marshes and coastal sand dunes. The Sandwich Flats stretch for about five miles along the coast...

 and Park Gate Down
Park Gate Down
Park Gate Down is a stretch of chalk downland near Elham in East Kent. The site is owned and managed as a nature reserve by the Kent Wildlife Trust and is also listed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation...

. In addition, the Suffolk Wildlife Trust introduced Polish Koniks for grazing as part of a broad restoration project of the Redgrave and Lopham Fen.

Physical Characteristics

  • Height at the withers
    Withers
    The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of a four-legged animal. In many species it is the tallest point of the body, and in horses and dogs it is the standard place to measure the animal's height .-Horses:The withers in horses are formed by the dorsal spinal processes of roughly the...

    : 134 centimetres (52.8 in) (13.1 hands)
  • Chest circumference: 168 centimetres (66.1 in)


The breed is short in height, with a strong and stocky build, light head with a straight profile, the neck emerges low out of the chest. The Konik has a deep chest, a thick mane, the hair coat is blue dun
Grullo
Grullo is a color of horses in the dun family, characterized by tan-gray or mouse-colored hairs on the body, often with shoulder and dorsal stripes and black barring on the lower legs. In this coloration each individual hair is mouse-colored, unlike a roan which is composed of a mixture of dark and...

 though often colloquially called "mouse-gray."

Prevalence in Poland

  • Private breeders: 310 females, 90 males
  • State studs: 120 females, 50 males

Breeding centres

  • Nature reserves: Popielno, Roztocze National Park
    Roztocze National Park
    Roztocze National Park is a National Park located in eastern Poland, in Lublin Voivodeship. It protects the most valuable natural areas of the middle part of the Roztocze range. The Park was created in 1974 and initially covered area of 48.01 km². Its current size is , of which forests occupy...

    , Stobnica Research Station of the University of Life Sciences in Poznań
    University of Life Sciences in Poznan
    The University of Life Sciences in Poznań is a higher-education institution in Poznań, Poland. It officially gained university status on 11 April 2008. Its previous name was Akademia Rolnicza im...

  • Stud conditions: Popielno, Sieraków
    Sieraków
    Sieraków is a town in western Poland with 6,022 inhabitants . Located by the Warta River, it has been situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship , previously in Poznań Voivodeship ....


External links

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