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Wild Horses in Ladakh || By Bhushan Parimoo || LIVE IMAGE |
Hardly found any mention to be relied upon about the horses in wild Horses found anywhere in the Indian Subcontinent. Whereas, as a student of Nature this writer had an inkling of its existence here in the cold deserts of Ladahak. The reason behind has been the presence of Bactrian Camels the double hump Camels. Both of them found friendly neighbours elsewhere .
But at the same time just to think or presume on these lines are two diametrical opposite propositions to each other. One has to face embarrassing positions in case caught on the wrong foot. As such it becomes imperative to find or dug out the irrefutable evidence to substantiate before bringing it in the public domain.
Wanderers on pilgrimage in Nature are at tenterhooks all the time for what lies ahead. Generally wrapped in a mystery until one is within it to enjoy the wonders it offers at times even hard to guess. Every step makes one to hold breath and behold bounties of countless beauty it offers.
Two possibilities are always lie ahead definitely without any doubt in such a sojourn, sometimes the known and the expected but more often something new and unexplored are treasured upon . It is the later experience that one seeks and best described by Caleb C. Colton, the famous English author: “It is a mortifying truth, and ought to teach the wisest of us humility, that many of the most valuable discoveries have been the result of chance rather than of contemplation, and of accident rather than of a design”.
His words indeed come so true with my own experience in the pursuit to gather as much as is available and worth taking note of from as many as persons as possible who had seen in close proximity or coexisted with the Black Necked cranes in Ladahak. There cropped up an unexpected surprise to hear that the Ladahak did possess Wild Horses just within our living memory.
It was news but hard to believe. This vital piece of information could not be ignored and treat it as a hearsay since it came from a reliable source .Better say from horse mouth one of the veteran observers of nature, globe trotter with plus five decades of indulgence at his back. While deliberating upon the Fauna of Ladahak with Bai Moti Paimoo, cropped up the mention Mr V.K.R, both of then colleague and veteran geologist by profession besides sons of the soil , the full name held back on ethics since permission could not be sought to share.
Nevertheless we both know him very well rather one among us. It was he who along Late Sh T.R .Kurien and others with others colleagues had seen them NE of Pongong Tso region spread over to about more than six hundred square kms, two third of it is now under control of the china.. Adding further that It reminds him of the Ladahak‘s varied and rich Wild Life suffered a big jolt by the presence of the Armed Forces which was deployed in sufficient number to protect borders after 1962 war. Which has caused irreparable damage? Hastily adding at times at the instruction of the officers Army officers at higher level did gave instructions in clear terms not to harm wildlife, a few even wrote books authoritative Books on wildlife ,but in general hunting to survive was a rampant and reckless with impunity due to various reasons had been an admitted fact. There is no mention of it in the entire great diversity of Ladahak Division anywhere on both sides of the line of the wild Horses as per record given among about 225 species of birds and big land animals of the Wildlife here .
To cross check and doubly sure, the Department of Wildlife Protection was approached in person. It is quite common generally with a weather beaten bird with no qualification to flaunt at to seek opinion in such matters. Blank NO means no for all the practical purposes as such provided no room to proceed further under scientific inquest temperament. Was cautioned, it that it must have been the mistaken identity for the Wild Ass the Kaiya.
The Wild Horse (Equus ferus) is said to be a member of the Horse genus and was found in Europe and central Asia. Believed to have two species or subspecies (taxonomy is debated) of wild horses survived into modern times: The Tarpan or Eurasian Wild Horse (Equus ferus ferus), and the Przewalski’s Horse or Mongolian Wild Horse (classification disputed, either Equus ferus przewalskii or Equus przewalskii). The Tarpan become extinct in 1875.
Przewalski’s Horse almost became extinct too. But it was saved and reintroduced into the wild. Today, Przewalski’s Horse is a rare endangered species it can only be found in limited numbers in Mongolia and China. Wild horses recently reported were domesticated in the Ponto-Caspian steppe region (today Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Romania) in the 3rd millennium B.C.In a new study published in the scientific journal Science, an analysis by German researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, the German Archaeological Institute, the Humboldt University Berlin, the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, in cooperation with American and Spanish scientists, has unravelled the mystery about the domestication of the horse.
Based on ancient DNA spanning the time between the Late Pleistocene and the Middle Ages, targeting nuclear genes responsible for coat colorations allows to shed light on the timing and place of horse domestication. the huge variability of coloration in domestic horses observed today is a result of selective breeding by ancient farmers.
For many millennia, horses were linked to human history changing societies on a continent-wide scale, be it with Alexander the Great’s or Genghis Khan’s armies invading most of Asia and Eastern Europe or Francis Pizarro destroying the Inca Empire with about 30 mounted warriors. The horse was a costly and prestigious animal in all times, featured in gifts from one sovereign to another as a nobleman’s mark.
Wild horses running in the Desert Mountains of Kazakhstan. It has been that around 1956 a Geological team from the Geological Survey of India to Conduct detail survey on the Sailtro Glaciers in Ladakh .
A few of them made the best of the occasion and snatched a day or two on site sightings of Pongong Tso area and the lake . There one fine morning from the Northern East region which is now in Chinese occupation for more than five decades saw a dry huge cloud of thick dust emerging out of the blue moon abruptly as if a landslide had come down before them. Surprising a quite an abnormal phenomenon for a geologist taking place , no strong winds, no rumbling noise but calm, pin drop silence, no ground vibration were at their wits what give rise to such abnormal phenomena , thinking it may a typical local behaviour of the cold dry desert phenomena of the area. Which requires keen observation and its behaviour.
Team leader had a Camera, caught hold of it and started capturing, rather making reel of it for further study. After some time dust started settling, dissipating around and started settling down, Oh there they behold a pack of large herd of Wild horse coming down which had raised the dust while coming down from top of the hill to down at a wild speed this horse possessed . dispersed in a jiff at will here and there and beyond went soon out of sight and .
After Chinese occupations Wild Horses which survived on slaughter must have fled on the other side which has quite a wider plateau of less activity. A picture by Jennifer Ann Roche at Pangong Lake in Ladakh, of horses crossing the water sheet made appearance in the newspapers in February 2015 wherein she claimed these horses as wild. ‘As I got close, I spooked the horses and had to jump down a muddy bank,’ she said. ‘It is one of my favourite pictures and was well worth being knee-deep in dirt. In response to this picture one blazing away expressed that he don’t think that’s Pangong lake.
Methinks that’s the Suru Valley en route to the Zanskar Valley. I stand to be corrected. Pangong Lake is in eastern Ladakh and is massive. But hey, a great picture. When I passed through the horses were grazing. Wild horses are not reported in Zanaskar, he must have seen domesticated one, as regards water sheet he must be right it is not the Pangong Lake as appears in its surroundings.
I stand to be corrected. Pangong Lake is in eastern Ladakh and is massive. But hey, a great picture. When I passed through the horses were grazing. I stand to be corrected. Pangong Lake is in eastern Ladakh and is massive. But hey, a great picture. When I passed through the horses were grazing. The writer stand to correct no wild horse is in Zanaskar, which are a domesticated one. Both of them give as appears flight to their imagination to convey their point which is not there.
Ps picture shared is only a representative one.
Bushan Parimoo
(The writer is a Jammu based environmentalist and a regular contributor to this Website.)
(Feedback at: blparimoo@gmail.com)
