Equus przewalskii
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English: Przewalski horse (wild horse)
German: Wildpferd Przewalski
French: Cheval de Przewalski
Spanish: Caballo Przewalski
Distribution areas
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The Przewalski horse is only found in
the prairie areas of middle Asia. This
animal is very rare in the wild now, but is
often raised in zoos.
Description of the fur
---------------------- The surface structure
The hide of the mature animal is up to of the skin, 100x
170 cm long, light grey-brown in colour and
with the upper parts of the hairs being darker. The hairs are straight,
coarse and a little shorter than those of the domesticated horse.
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Equus przewalskii
-----------------
English: Przewalski horse (wild horse)
German: Wildpferd Przewalski
French: Cheval de Przewalski
Spanish: Caballo Przewalski
Structure of the hair
---------------------
The microscopic structure of the skin
surface is furrowed; the hair follicles are
narrow with straight edges. The difference
between this and the domesticated horse
varieties is that the inner root sheath is
not pulled out above the follicle by the
growing hairs. On average, the follicles The cuticular structure
contain only one hair shaft. of the fine fibres, 400x
The intermediate fur fibres and the guard hairs are similar in microscopic
structure. These are circular in cross-section and the diameter measures
between 20 an 100 µm. The cuticle is covered by even tile-like scales with a
smooth surface and straight scale margins. The medullar structure is wide,
unbroken and symmetrically situated in the central part of the cross-section.
The overall structure of the medulla belongs to the lattice type, with the
structure of the infilling material being either needle-sheet-like or
complex-sheet-like.
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Equus przewalskii
-----------------
English: Przewalski horse (wild horse)
German: Wildpferd Przewalski
French: Cheval de Przewalski
Spanish: Caballo Przewalski
The cuticular structure
of an intermediate hair, 600x
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Equus przewalskii
-----------------
English: Przewalski horse (wild horse)
German: Wildpferd Przewalski
French: Cheval de Przewalski
Spanish: Caballo Przewalski
Longitudinal section
of a guard hair, 400x
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Equus przewalskii
-----------------
English: Przewalski horse (wild horse)
German: Wildpferd Przewalski
French: Cheval de Przewalski
Spanish: Caballo Przewalski
Detailed structure
of the medulla, 2000x
Numerical code for Przewalski horse skin structure
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Surface of the skin: 3-4-1
Fine fur fibres: 1-5-1-1-4-0-0-0-0-10.15-5.11
Intermediate fibres: 1-5-1-1-2-1-1-8-3.4-60.91-20.35
Guard hairs: 1-2-1-1-2-1-1-8-3.4-60.91-20.35
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