Editing Przewalski's horse (section)

==Lineage==
Genetic analysis shows that the takhi and the domestic horse differ significantly, with neither ancestral to the other. The evolutionary [[Genetic divergence|divergence]] of the two populations was estimated to have occurred about 72,000–38,000 years ago, well before domestication, most likely due to climate, topography, or other environmental changes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Orlando |first1=L. |last2=Ginolhac |first2=A.L. |last3=Zhang |first3=G. |last4=Froese |first4=D. |last5=Albrechtsen |first5=A. |last6=Stiller |first6=M. |last7=Schubert |first7=M. |last8=Cappellini |first8=E. |last9=Petersen |first9=B. |last10=Moltke |first10=I. |last11=Johnson |first11=P.L.F. |last12=Fumagalli |first12=M. |last13=Vilstrup |first13=J.T. |last14=Raghavan |first14=M. |last15=Korneliussen |first15=T. |last16=Malaspinas |first16=A.S. |last17=Vogt |first17=J. |last18=Szklarczyk |first18=D. |last19=Kelstrup |first19=C.D. |last20=Vinther |first20=J. |last21=Dolocan |first21=A. |last22=Stenderup |first22=J. |last23=Velazquez |first23=A.M.V. |last24=Cahill |first24=J. |last25=Rasmussen |first25=M. |last26=Wang |first26=X. |last27=Min |first27=J. |last28=Zazula |first28=G.D. |last29=Seguin-Orlando |first29=A. |last30=Mortensen |first30=C. |display-authors=6 |year=2013 |title=Recalibrating Equus evolution using the genome sequence of an early Middle Pleistocene horse |doi=10.1038/nature12323 |journal=Nature |volume=499 |issue=7456 |pages=74–78 |pmid=23803765 |bibcode=2013Natur.499...74O |s2cid=4318227}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sarkissian |first1=C. |last2=Ermini |first2=L. |last3=Schubert |first3=M. |last4=Yang |first4=M.A. |last5=Librado |first5=P. |display-authors=etal |year=2015 |title=Evolutionary genomics and conservation of the endangered Przewalski's horse |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2015.08.032 |pmid=26412128 |journal=Curr. Biol. |volume=25 |issue=19 |pages=2577–83 |pmc=5104162|bibcode=2015CBio...25.2577D }}</ref><ref name=machugh2016>{{cite journal |doi=10.1146/annurev-animal-022516-022747 |title=Taming the past: Ancient DNA and the study of animal domestication |journal=Annual Review of Animal Biosciences |volume=5 |year=2016 |last1=Machugh |first1=David E. |last2=Larson |first2=Greger |last3=Orlando |first3=Ludovic |pmid=27813680 |pages=329–351|s2cid=21991146 }}</ref>

According to a 2009 study, the earliest known domestic horses were found at settlements of the Botai culture, from about 5500 years ago. These horses were raised for meat and milk.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Outram |first1=A.K. |last2=Stear |first2=N.A. |last3=Bendrey |first3=R. |last4=Olsen |first4=S. |last5=Kasparov |first5= A. |display-authors=etal |year=2009 |title=The earliest horse harnessing and milking |journal=Science |volume=323 |issue=5919 |pages=1332–1335 |doi=10.1126/science.1168594 |pmid=19265018|bibcode=2009Sci...323.1332O |s2cid=5126719 }}</ref> In 2018, a new study indicated ancient horses of the Botai culture are related to takhis, not to domestic horses as was previously thought. Specifically, the Botai horses appeared to be ancestral to the modern takhi, because all seven takhis nested within the [[phylogenetic tree]] of the 20 Botai horses. No comparison was made to definitively wild early takhis. The authors posit that modern Przewalski's horses are [[Feral animal|feral]] descendants of the ancient Botai domesticated animals, rather than representing a surviving population of never-domesticated horses.<ref name="sciencemag.org">{{cite web |author=Pennisi, Elizabeth |author-link=Elizabeth Pennisi |title=Ancient DNA upends the horse family tree |website=sciencemag.org |date=22 February 2018 |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/ancient-dna-upends-horse-family-tree |access-date=30 June 2022 |archive-date=21 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220921222121/https://www.science.org/content/article/ancient-dna-upends-horse-family-tree |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Orlando2018>{{Cite journal |last1=Orlando |first1=Ludovic |last2=Outram |first2=Alan K. |last3=Librado| first3=Pablo |last4=Willerslev |first4=Eske |last5=Zaibert |first5=Viktor |last6=Merz |first6=Ilja |last7=Merz |first7=Victor |last8=Wallner |first8=Barbara |last9=Ludwig |first9=Arne |date=2018-04-06 |df=dmy-all |title=Ancient genomes revisit the ancestry of domestic and Przewalski's horses |journal=Science |language=en |volume=360 |issue=6384 |pages=111–114 |doi=10.1126/science.aao3297 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=29472442|bibcode=2018Sci...360..111G |doi-access=free|hdl=10871/31710 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Another geneticist pointed out that Przewalski's horses may have simply descended from the same wild population that the Botai horses came from, which would still be compatible with the findings of the study.<ref name="ArsTechnica">{{cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/02/ancient-dna-rules-out-archeologists-best-bet-for-horse-domestication/|date=February 25, 2018|title=Ancient DNA rules out archeologists' best bet for horse domestication|publisher=[[ArsTechnica]]|access-date=24 June 2020|archive-date=25 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200625064751/https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/02/ancient-dna-rules-out-archeologists-best-bet-for-horse-domestication/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2021, William Taylor and Christina Barron-Ortiz disputed the evidence for domestication of Przewalski's horse.<ref name="Taylor et al. 2021">{{cite journal|last1=Taylor |first1=William Timothy Treal |last2=Barrón‑Ortiz |first2=Christina Isabelle |title=Rethinking the evidence for early horse domestication at Botai |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=11 |year=2021 |issue=1 |page=7440 |doi=10.1038/s41598-021-86832-9|pmid=33811228 |pmc=8018961 |bibcode=2021NatSR..11.7440T }}</ref> Their case was rejected by Alan Outram and colleagues in a paper which was not dated or peer-reviewed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10871/126599/Outram%20et%20al%20Rebuttal%20of%20Taylor.pdf?sequence=1|title=Rebuttal of Taylor and Barrón-Ortiz 2021 Rethinking the evidence for early horse domestication at Botai|access-date=26 April 2024|archive-date=5 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240505123450/https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10871/126599/Outram%20et%20al%20Rebuttal%20of%20Taylor.pdf?sequence=1|url-status=live}}</ref> Taylor reiterated his arguments that Przewalski's horse had never been domesticated in an article in ''[[Scientific American]]'' in 2024.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Taylor |first=William T. | journal=Scientific American |title=When Horse became Steed|volume=331 |number=5  |date=December 2024 |pages=24–30 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican122024-7qfHkaSxwWOJpTcwY2J0bg |bibcode=2024SciAm.331e..22T |issn= }}</ref>

In any case, the Botai horses were found to have negligible genetic contribution to any of the ancient or modern domestic horses studied, indicating that the domestication of the latter was independent, involving a different wild population, from any possible domestication of Przewalski's horse by the Botai culture.<ref name="sciencemag.org"/><ref name=Orlando2018/><ref name="ArsTechnica"/>