Word: tarpans
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...Przewalski horses have few characteristics of the tarpan, so Dr. Heck brought mares from Iceland and Gotland. Surprisingly like tarpans in skull and build, the mares were bred to Przewalski stallions. Although none of the original brood mares was grey, when crossbred mares were bred to crossbred stallions, they occasionally produced tarpanlike, mouse-grey foals. By discarding the foals that inherited Przewalski heads, by selecting a color here, a skull shape there, working always to reproduce the most backward characteristics, Dr. Heck finally got a herd of horses with tarpan build and the typical tarpan color...
...newborn foals are blond-brown, the color of fresh baked bread. Only after a few months do they change to grey and develop the zebralike tarpan striping on their legs. This change, says Dr. Heck, is the same as the startling color change that takes place so often in domesticated horses. When black and red foals turn to grey, or duns become bays, they are probably imitating their tarpan ancestors...
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