We were inspired by the only horse which was never domesticated – the Przewalski horse which can be found grazing at the Toronto Zoo. The Zoo has over 5,000 animals representing over 450 species. There are over 10 km of walking trails and 710 acres of property which makes it one of the largest zoos in the world. The Toronto Zoo is dedicated to providing the animals with the means to live long and enriching lives and it’s mission is to be Canada’s national leader in saving wildlife to ensure the rich diversity of nature for future generations.
The Zoo is divided into seven zoogeographic regions: Indo-Malaya, Africa, the Americas, Australasia, Eurasia, Canadian Domain and the Tundra Trek. Animals are displayed indoors in tropical pavilions and outdoors in naturalistic environments, with viewing at many levels. Przewalski Horses are located in the Eurasia Pavilion. The Przewalski horse once inhabited the open plains and semi-deserts of Western Europe, Mongolia and China. Unfortunately, number of Przewalski’s horses dropped drastically due to intensive hunt, loss of habitat and increased competition for food and water with domestic cattle during the 20th century. By the late 1960s, Przewalski’s horses went extinct in the wild. Today, around 1200 specimens of Przewalski’s horses can be found in the zoos and private collections throughout the world. Several programs of captive breeding resulted in creation of the new population of Przewalski’s horses that were brought back to the wild (Mongolia) during the 2000’s. Number of Przewalski’s horses is still very low in the wild (few hundreds of animals) and they are listed as critically endangered while continued efforts are being made to increase their population in the wild.
Students captured the likeness of these wild horses whose head is large with a long face and muzzle. The neck is short and stumpy. The eyes are located far from the nostrils near the ears. The length of body: 220 – 260 cm; length of tail 80 – 110 cm and weight: 200 – 300 kg. Students used acrylic paint for their horse portrait and then added various colours of oil pastels to create a mane.
They all look amazing! I love the varied unique personalities coming through in each one.