On the origin of the Polish konik and its relation to Dutch nature management

Cis (T.) van Vuure

Nude 45, NL-6702 DK Wageningen, e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: After the end of the last ice age, relatively small numbers of the wild managed to survive through- out much of the Holocene in the heavily forested parts of Western and Central Europe. Hunting and being driven from its feeding grounds by man diminished the numbers of these animals. Probably, the last population of these survived in the wild in the borderland of East Prussia, and Lithuania, until the 16th Century. The last specimens were housed by Jan Zamoyski in his zoo at Zwierzyniec (SE Poland). There, this (sub)species came to an end, at the end of the 18th Century. On the basis of a report by Julius Brincken in 1826, which stated that the last wild horses would have been crossed with farm horses about 1806, the Pole Tadeusz Vetulani started a breeding- back experiment in the Forest of Białowieża in 1936. It was his intention to get back the wild ancestor by selecting and crossing farm horses from the vicinity of ​Biłgoraj. After Vetulani’s death in 1952, this experiment was taken over by the Polish state, and was moved to Popielno (NE Poland). After the cessation of the breeding-back experi- ment, around 1970, the konik is still bred there, but these days only as a ‘primitive ’. There are several pieces of evidence that show that the Brincken’s report on the was misleading and inaccurate. In addi- tion, Vetulani conducted his experiment in a careless way and, as such, his breeding-back experiment should be considered to have been unsuccessful. In the 1980s, koniks were put out in the Netherlands – first on the Ennema- borgh Estate in 1981 and later in 1984 in the Oostvaardersplassen Nature Reserve - as part of a cheaper and more ‘natural’ nature management in the Netherlands. There was (and still is) a perception that the konik is ‘the most recent descendant’ of the European wild horse. Through using specific phrases (such as ‘letting nature have its way’, ‘primeval landscape’ and ‘Serengeti’) managers of the Oostvaardersplassen and some media frame the Oost- vaardersplassen area as an untouched and natural ecosystem, which is far from the case.

Keywords: wild horses, feral horses, archaeology, (cultural) history, ecology, morphology, nature management, perceptions.

Introduction ideas of the Stichting Kritisch Bosbeheer (Crit- ical Forest Management Foundation), which In the course of the 1970s, Dutch nature man- advocated the (re)introduction of lost animal agement adopted new approaches that are species (elk, wisent and wolf) or substitutes of still being followed today. Previously, nature extinct species ( and wild horse). The reserves were managed by periodic mowing, underlying thinking was that ‘nature’ would burning or cutting vegetation. From the 1970s become more ‘natural’ by using these animals. onwards cattle, horses and sheep were increas- This in turn might help to evolve what some ingly used to manage nature reserves, as this was saw as more natural, half-open, park-like land- a cheaper method. This was influenced by the scapes. In the long run, human intervention might not even be needed anymore. This line of © 2014 Zoogdiervereniging. Lutra articles also on the thinking led to the konik being introduced into internet: http://www.zoogdiervereniging.nl the Netherlands in the 1980s.

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Lutra_57_2_Text_v3.indd 111 06/02/2015 21:27 Figure 1. Images of wild horses, from the former steppes of south-east Europe. The left one was carved out of bone and dates from the 5th millennium BCE (Kvalynsk culture) (Kuzmina 2003). The right hand one dates from the 4th millennium BCE (Maikop culture). It was engraved on a silver beaker and forms a part of a hunting scene, together with several other game animals (Anthony 2007).

Personal doubts on the part of the author the Netherlands, and Poland were of this article, about the status of the konik as visited. In addition, field data was gathered being the most recent descendant of the Euro- from field visits to nature reserves, including pean wild horse, were the initial underlying the Oostvaardersplassen Nature Reserve, the reason for the study on which this paper is primeval forest of Rothwald (Austria) and the based. In spite of what was claimed, koniks Vltava flood plains (Czech Republic) to find show nearly no striking characteristics of the data on natural processes, and the Sieraków wild horse, as regards coat colour, form, (Poland) to learn more about the etc. Later, the research was stimulated and ins and outs of konik breeding. further expanded as a result of the commo- tion over the mass winter starvations of large herbivores in the Oostvaardersplassen area Results (Province of Flevoland, between the towns of Almere and Lelystad), that have occurred The Holocene horse of Western and since 2003. The research concerns the his- Central Europe tory of the European wild horse, the origin of the Polish konik, and its current use in mod- During the last ice age, a wide steppe belt ern day nature management, and perceptions extended from Ireland through Europe and about these horses. Asia as far as North America, mainly consist- ing of grassland. About 12,000 years ago, the climate changed drastically. Under the influ- Methods ence of increased precipitation and higher temperatures, in Western and Central Europe The research on which this article is based this steppe belt turned into a mostly forested was done as a PhD thesis at the Vrije Univer- area (Guthrie 1990, Mitchell 2005, Mol et al. siteit in Amsterdam and was mainly based on 2006). Large herbivores were not able to pre- literature reviews and other sources (bones, vent this forest growth (see van Vuure 2005 interviews, field visits). The study draws on and the references in note 3). Horses were historical (archaeological and cultural-his- very common on the steppes; there they had torical data), biological (animal morphol- plenty of room and grass at their disposal. ogy, ecology, DNA) and philological data. To From the Miocene onwards, the horses devel- access this material, libraries and archives in oped several bodily adaptations, concerning

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Lutra_57_2_Text_v3.indd 112 06/02/2015 21:27 Figure 2. The shaded part shows the probable distribution area of the wild horse in Western and Central Europe during the Holocene. This horse died out in southern Sweden and England halfway through the Holocene. It was probably absent from Italy and the Southern Balkans during this time, given the lack of bone finds there (from van Vuure, in press). The former Holocene distribution area of the wild horse in Eastern Europe and Asia is not well known. 1. Dereivka 2. Botai. Distribution area of the Przewalski’s horse, during the 19th and 20th Centuries.

locomotion (limb and muscle constructions), Ukraine and Kazachstan (Outram et al. 2009). dentition and energy management, that ena- After the transition to the Holocene, the bled them to better cope with grassy vegeta- numbers of wild horses1 in Western and Cen- tion and predators (Franzen 2010). After the tral Europe drastically decreased. Judging climate changed and forests grew in West- from the limited number of sites and bones ern and Central Europe, the horses found of this horse, it must have become a relatively themselves in a much less suitable habitat. rare animal by then (Clason 1986, Uerpmann In North America, the wild horse died out, 1990, Benecke 1993, 2006, Döhle 1999, Lõu- but in Europe it managed to survive. Dur- gas 2006, Sommer et al. 2011, Bendrey 2012). ing the Holocene, in the steppes of Southeast- Wild horse generally constituted less than 5% ern Europe (e.g. Ukraine) and Central Asia, of human catches; very often it was lacking. wild horses survived for a long time in large For red deer (Cervus elaphus) the opposite numbers. The archaeological sites of Dereivka holds: during the last ice age it was rare, but (Ukraine) and Botai (Kazakhstan) (see figure during the Holocene it became very common 2), show that wild horses constituted 70-80% (Zeiler & Kooistra 1998, Hüster-Plogmann et of the animals caught by man, at this time al. 1999, Lauwerier et al. 2004, Louwe Kooij- (Levine 1999, Anthony 2007). The Przew- mans 2013). The many thousands of retrieved alski’s horse is the remnant of these former bones of red deer from the Holocene contrast large horse populations. About 3500 BCE, the sharply with the few wild-horse bones. We horse was domesticated in the steppe areas of also know that wild horses, if available, have

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Lutra_57_2_Text_v3.indd 113 06/02/2015 21:35 always been a sought-after catch (Mager 1941, of ‘wild horses’ (van Vuure, in press). This was Levine 1999, Anthony 2007). In the Nether- the area of the Great Wilderness. This wil- lands too, some Holocene sites such as Hoge derness area of forests and marshes, hardly Vaart, Swifterbant, Hekelingen and Schok- influenced by man, was largely situated in for- land provide bones of wild horse (Modder- mer East Prussia, and partly in neighbouring man 1953, Clason 1986, Gehasse 1995, Laar- Poland and Lithuania (figure 3). Wild horse man 2001). In the predominantly forested probably still existed there from the late 13th habitat of Western and Central Europe2, the to the early 16th Centuries (Mager 1960). The wild horse was apparently able to find just descriptions of the horses living there in the sufficient opportunities to survive. In the for- wild, of their physical appearance (body size, est itself, there must have been too little grass coat colour), their nature (ability to be tamed, available for them to feed on. The only areas shyness), and the way man regarded and that probably were suitable for horses to live treated them (they were sought-after by the in, were marshy areas, where trees could not nobility for their private zoos, but regarded as grow (van Vuure, in press). These would have useless for production), might be considered been the grass and sedge marshes along riv- as valid arguments to believe that this really ers and at lakes and coasts. The bodily adap- was the last population of wild horses of Cen- tations that were required to live in small, tral Europe. Alongside the wild horse, aurochs scattered grassy habitats in a large wooded (Bos primigenius), wisent (Bison bonasus), area, would have included a reduction in elk (Alces alces) and wolverines (Gulo gulo) body size and an adaptation of the coat col- also held out for a relatively long time in the our (van Vuure, in press). A (relative) broad- Great Wilderness. At the end of the 16th Cen- ening of the hooves also appears to have been tury, mentions of the wild horse in the wild an adjustment to life on soft soils. This latter abruptly ceased. From that time on, (reli- adjustment arose at the transition from the able) mentions of the wild horse have been Pleistocene to the Holocene (Kuzmina 1997, connected with Jan Zamoyski, an influential Baales 2002, Bignon & Eisenmann 2006, Van Polish count, and his family. In the late 16th Asperen 2010, Boeskorov et al. 2014). As far as Century, Jan Zamoyski founded a large and it can be currently ascertained, the wild horse prestigious zoo and wildlife park near the vil- of Western and Central Europe was relatively lage of Zwierzyniec, in SE Poland (see figure small, with a shoulder height of 120 -130 cm. 3). Mentions and descriptions of wild horses It had a dun to dark brown coat colour, with a in this zoo have been handed down from the very dark dorsal stripe on the back. The short late 18th Century. Hacquet (1794), who visited erect mane was also a very dark colour. this zoo, mentioned that the last wild horses As man hunted the wild horse and brought were either shot there, or found their end in land into cultivation, wild horse numbers the wild-animals theatre (Hetztheater) in decreased. Because it is difficult to distinguish Lemberg (now Lviv, Ukraine). Descriptions bones of the wild horse from bones of the of ‘wild horses’ in the Russian steppes were domestic horse, it is difficult to ascertain how recorded well into the 19th Century, but there quick this decline was, and to what extent in are large doubts about their reliability (van which areas. Mentions of ‘wild horses’ have Vuure, in press). been handed down to us from both classical antiquity and the Middle Ages. It is often dif- ficult to make out whether these concerned The origin of the Polish konik originally wild horses or feral domestic ones. However, one area in Europe stood out in An important influence on current thinking terms of number and nature of the mentions on the European wild horse is the book pub-

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Lutra_57_2_Text_v3.indd 114 06/02/2015 21:27 Figure 3. Map of East Prussia (capital: Königsberg) and a part of Poland and Lithuania, in the 16th Century, showing the supposed last living area of the wild horse of Central Europe, the Forest of Białowieża and the village of Zwierzyniec.

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Lutra_57_2_Text_v3.indd 115 06/02/2015 21:27 lished by the German forester Julius Brincken oured small one), wolverines (Gulo gulo), two in 1826, in which Brincken described the different ‘species’ of red squirrel Sciurus( vul- flora and fauna of the Białowieża Forest, a garis) (a white one and a gold coloured one) large primeval forest situated on the border and steppe polecat (Mustela eversmanii); cer- between Poland and Belarus (see figure 3), tainly not all of which occurred there at that and also paid attention to the lost wild horse. time. In addition, he gave several incorrect The descriptions he gave of this animal and data on wisent () numbers, its disappearance continue to be central to the and on local geography and history. These are 20th Century perceptions about this horse and just a few of Bricken’s many errors. However, the Polish konik, bred halfway through that the criticisms, expressed by experts like S.B. century. Brincken wrote that the Białowieża Górski, F.P.S. Jarocki and E. De Ronca, were Forest had formed the last living area of the soon forgotten. Later, various authoritative wild horse. During the late 1780s, the last writers, especially from abroad, referred to wild horses would have been captured there Brincken’s book as a reliable source of knowl- and transported to the zoo of the Zamoyski edge about the Białowieża Forest. In the 20th family. About 1806, he claimed that they were Century, Brincken’s version of the physical distributed among local farmers, who then appearance and the disappearance of the last crossed them with their own horses. Accord- wild horses began to play an influential role ing to Brincken, in his time ‘these wild horses in the debate on whether descendants of the would be still recognisable among the horses last wild horses actually still existed. The next of the farmers’. However, Brincken did not step in this development was a research, by state well what these horses looked like, nor Grabowski & Schuch in 1921, done on farm where he got his information from (which is horses (called ‘koniki’) in the vicinity of the a common shortcoming of Brincken’s style of village of Biłgoraj, about 20 km west of Zwi- researching and reporting). erzyniec. Their research described the local Some years after the publication of Brinck- farm horses and how they were linked to the en’s book, considerable criticisms were made last wild horses from the Forest of Białowieża. of it by contemporary local scientists (see This research motivated Tadeusz Vetulani, an Daszkiewicz et al. 2004). According to these animal breeder, to start his own research on critics, Brincken was often very inaccurate farm horses near Biłgoraj. in collecting and checking data about plant Vetulani carried out his research on the and animal species. The book was “teem- koniks of Biłgoraj in the course of the 1920s. ing with errors, inaccuracies and fabrica- The research consisted of measuring a series tions” (Daszkiewicz et al. 2004, p. 25). For of skull characteristics in these horses, e.g. instance, Brincken mentioned the occurrence lengths and widths of the different parts of the of Tilia platyphyllos, Acer pseudoplatanus, A. skull, the form of the forehead and that of the campestre, Alnus incana, Sambucus nigra, profile line of the skull. These characteristics Populus alba, Prunus spinosa and Crataegus were compared with the skull characteristics oxyacantha, tree species that - according to of two supposedly wild horses (known as the contemporary and current experts (Daszkie- Cherson and the Tauric tarpan). These wicz et al. 2004, Błoński et al. 1888, Faliński two ‘’ were caught in the Russian 1986) - did not grow in that forest. As for ani- steppes halfway through the 19th Century. He mals, Brincken mentioned the occurrence did this comparison on the basis of a statis- of the Russian flying squirrel (Pteromys vol- tical method, which at that time was known ans), three different ‘species’ of brown bear as the ‘differential method of Czekanow- (Ursus arctos) (a large, nearly black bear, a ski’. This method was based on determining medium-sized brown one and a silver col- the differences between each skull and every

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Lutra_57_2_Text_v3.indd 116 06/02/2015 21:27 other one, with regard to x number of char- over the role of the farm horse. It was also acteristics. Per skull pair, these differences decided that it was not possible to breed back were added up and divided by x to obtain the the wild horse, and the breeding was turned overall average. The smaller this average, the to ”a kind of preservation breeding of a primi- greater the relationship between the skulls, tive horse breed” (Jezierski & Jaworski 2008). reasoned Czekanowski. Today, the Polish konik is used in various During the 1930s, Vetulani believed he had branches of , crossed with other obtained sufficient evidence to label the kon- horse breeds, and exported. The koniks that iks of Biłgoraj as recent descendants of the were bought to the Netherlands in the early last wild horses of Central Europe. He then 1980s came from Popielno. conceived the plan to try and breed back that wild ancestor, using a selection of horses from (mainly) Biłgoraj. In his breeding experiment, Criticisms of Brincken and Vetulani Vetulani focused on characteristics such as the ‘mouse-grey’ summer coat, the white win- As already mentioned, the contemporary crit- ter coat, the dorsal stripe and the erect mane. icisms of Brincken’s book were soon lost to In 1936, he started such a breeding-back oblivion. Thanks to the publication by Dasz- experiment in a small reserve in the Forest of kiewicz et al. (2004), there is once again more Białowieża (Vetulani 1936) where, according awareness of these criticisms. A closer study to Brincken, the last wild horses would have of Brincken’s book, made as part of this PhD lived3 . When the second World War broke out research, showed that it contains many more in Poland, in September 1939, the experiment errors and fabrications in the reporting of the was taken over: first by the Russians, and extant flora and fauna than initially thought. subsequently by the Germans in June 1940. In particular Brincken’s report on the wild The Russians had a strong interest in Vetu- horse had never been criticised by anybody. lani’s experiment and wanted to continue it. His report turned out to be very shaky (van The German management of the experiment Vuure, in press), because he wrongly quoted practically dismantled it, through the agency or interpreted texts from a number of authors. of Lutz Heck. After the war, Vetulani was able For instance, Brincken’s assertion that the to continue his experiment with the remnants last European wild horses lived in the For- of the experiment, supplemented with newly est of Białowieża in the 18th Century is inac- acquired horses – even though the newly- curate. He misinterpreted texts by the Polish installed communist government increas- authors Rzączyński (1742) and Czacki (1801). ingly frustrated his work. After the death of Rzączyński wrote about wild horses in the Vetulani, in 1952, the experiment was moved 16th Century and these were not located in from Białowieża to Popielno, in NE Poland, the Forest of Białowieża. In fact, Czacki’s text where the state drove it in two directions from also concerned wild horses in the 16th Cen- 1955 onwards (Pruski 1959). One part of the tury and a careful reading of his text suggests koniks was put out in a large reserve, to run that a printing error is responsible for a wrong wild. The other part went on as the ‘stable time indication. Secondly, there are no reli- group’. The latter group was bred to acquire a able 18th-century authors, who mention this better agricultural horse. In subsequent years, horse being extant in Poland or Lithuania in regular exchanges occurred between the two the wild, in the 18th Century; neither Connor groups of horses to prevent inbreeding. About (1700), nor Rzączyński (1742), nor the Forst- 1970, the authorities came to the conclusion Ordnung für Ost-Preußen und Litthauen that the breeding of agricultural horses was (1775), Kluk (1779), Büsching (1788), Gilibert no longer necessary as the tractor would take (1796) or Czacki (1801) mentioned it. Thirdly,

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Lutra_57_2_Text_v3.indd 117 06/02/2015 21:27 Figure 4. The konik Tref in its white winter coat in March 1936. For Vetulani, Tref was one of the most important breeding horses in his experiment (from Vetulani 1938).

there are good political reasons to assume were called serfs, but were in fact slaves, with- that the last wild horses were not transported out any property and at the mercy of the from Białowieża to Zwierzyniec in the 1780s, arbitrariness of the estate owner. During the as Brincken described. Firstly, the then Pol- 1780s and 1790s, an economic crisis raged in ish king was very interested in hunting and that region (Galicia, in SE Poland), there was big game and would probably have done eve- great social unrest and the Zamoyski fam- rything in his power to keep these horses at ily was regularly on war-footing with these Białowieża. Secondly, these horses would ‘farmers’. It is unlikely that the Zamoyski’s have been transported to enemy territory: at would have fêted these ‘farmers’ with great this time Zwierzyniec was situated in Aus- gifts. And even if these farmers were given the tria, which annexed a large part of Poland wild horses, it would have been counter-pro- in 1772. Moreover, there are already men- ductive for them to cross them with (relatively tions of wild horses at Zwierzyniec from the highly bred) farm horses. Because of their early 1770s. Finally, it seems unlikely that the ‘weak’ constitution and ‘bad’ character these last wild horses would have been distributed wild horses were “of no use at all” (“nullum ad among local farmers, as Brincken described, usum”) for agriculture, as several 16th-century as ‘farmers’ were the lowest social class. They authors had observed (e.g. Stella 1518, Gra-

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Lutra_57_2_Text_v3.indd 118 06/02/2015 21:27 tiani 1669). Moreover, was at pean wild-horse (sub)species, Vetulani failed a high level at Zwierzyniec, from the late 18th to realise that these could fall within the natu- century onwards, and expensive horses were ral range of variation of a horse species (Herre being imported from Prussia, Turkey, Eng- 1939). For example, Przewalski’s horse can land and Italy for breeding purposes. It seems also have a concave head profile line. More- more likely that the last wild horses were, as over, according to Herre, Vetulani had been Hacquet (1794) wrote, deliberately killed in overly influenced by the dubious assumptions the early 1790s. Lack of interest and economic of authorities of the time, such as Adametz cutbacks must have been the reason for this. and Anthonius, who not only considered the The untenability of Brincken’s account is Cherson and Tauric tarpans as being origi- reason to criticise Vetulani’s work. Another nally wild horses, but also considered certain relates to the methods employed by Vetulani, horse breeds, including the Arabian and Bos- while researching the koniks of Biłgoraj, and nian breeds, to be ‘descendants of the tarpan’. the execution of his breeding-back experi- Moreover, both disagreed with each other as ment. His experiment was not objective, he regards the exact appearance of the ‘tarpan’ selected the animals to measure from those skull. that already met his expectations. Because After the breeding of koniks was moved to well-known hippologists of the time, such Popielno, in 1955, the initial breeding objec- as L. Adametz and O. Antonius, considered tives of Vetulani were partly abandoned the wild horse as being of the eastern (orien- (Pruski 1959). The white winter coat (see fig- tal) type, Vetulani removed all western type ure 4) was no longer aimed for, nor were the Biłgoraj horses from the basic material to be concave profile line of the head and the short researched, in favour of oriental ones. After- erect mane. Inbreeding, sometimes used by wards he concluded, understandably, that the Vetulani, was prevented as much as possible, wild horse was of the oriental type. To com- from 1955 onwards. Eventually, as mentioned pare these horses, he also departed uncon- above, the actual back-breeding ceased. ditionally from the originally wild character Today, the konik with its blue dun coat colour, of the Cherson tarpan and the Tauric tarpan, its shoulder height of 130-140 cm and its long whose skull measures were included in the hanging mane bears little resemblance to the experiment. In addition, Vetulani used some wild horse. other horse skulls, found in archaeological sites, which he assumed to have belonged to wild horses; however, afterwards they turned The introduction of the konik in the out to be from domestic horses (Herre 1939). Netherlands Vetulani’s use of the differential method of Czekanowski was also made arbitrarily In 1981, the konik was introduced to the (Skorkowski 1934). Other researchers, using Ennemaborgh Estate (in the Province of the same data, came to different conclusions. Groningen) as a substitute of the extinct Moreover, Czekanowski himself changed his European wild horse, to be used in the new method, because of criticisms, while Vetulani approach to nature management (Poortinga continued to use the method that Czekanow- 1981). It was considered to be the closest liv- ski had devised initially. Later, Czekanow- ing relative of the extinct Western and Cen- ski’s method became entirely obsolete and tral European wild horse and to be well suited was abandoned, because of its unsoundness. for re-establishing the former natural land- By giving so much focus to certain skull char- scape. Three years later, in 1984, the (Dutch) acteristics (e.g. the concave profile line of the Forestry Commission also purchased kon- head), as being typical of the Central Euro- iks from Poland, which were put out into the

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Lutra_57_2_Text_v3.indd 119 06/02/2015 21:27 Figure 5. Konik horses in the Blauwe Kamer Nature Reserve, near Rhenen, the Netherlands. Photo: T. van Vuure.

Oostvaardersplassen Nature Reserve in the than cattle, would create a more varied veg- same year. In the previous year the Dutch For- etation. The Forestry Commission had cho- estry Commission had introduced sen the konik, not only because it was consid- in the same area with the aim of establishing ered as a primitive and hardy horse breed but short grassy vegetations for the benefit of the also because it was considered to be “the most many greylag geese (Anser anser) occurring recent descendant of the wild horse” (Vera there. In addition, the commission was also 1984). They also thought it important that the regulating the water level for the gooses’ ben- konik would not immediately remind people efit (Poorter 1982). The, then already, massive of a common domestic horse, and arouse the occurrence of these geese was and is consid- public’s pity when it lost a lot of weight in win- ered by many as a genuine primeval phenom- ter. The target that was applied to the Oost- enon in north-western Europe. However, in vaardersplassen: ‘realising short grassy veg- the Netherland there are no historic descrip- etation for geese’, has since been expanded. tive accounts or evidence from archaeologi- There was a view that it was important to cal excavations (Zeiler 1997, Lauwerier et al. show that the ‘natural’ Holocene landscape 2005, Brinkkemper et al. 2010; mallards - of Western and Central Europe was actually Anas platyrhynchos - turned out to be much a semi-open landscape, emerged under the more hunted) to support this belief. Never- influence of grazing and browsing by large theless, a high priority is given to preserving herbivores such as wisent, aurochs, wild horse large geese numbers in the Oostvaardersplas- and others. By the late 1970s, this idea had sen Nature Reserve yet. already been developed by the Critical For- The idea was that the deployment of horses, est Management Foundation and others (e.g. which graze in a somewhat different way van de Veen & van Wieren 1980, Poortinga

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Lutra_57_2_Text_v3.indd 120 06/02/2015 21:27 1981, van der Lans & Poortinga 1986). Later, of animal diseases that might be harmful to Vera (2000) tried to give this view a broader nearby commercial livestock units. scientific basis, by means of palynological and other data. The idea that the original natu- ral landscape of the Holocene was half-open, Perceptions surrounding the wild horse has found a lot of support among biologists and the konik and nature lovers (e.g. Bunzel-Drüke et al. 1994, Olff et al. 1999, Wigbels 2002). On the Historically, the horse has occupied a very other hand, there has been criticism of it from special place in human society. Initially, it archaeologists (e.g. Zeiler & Kooistra 1998, formed a major catch, attractive because of Louwe Kooijmans 2012) and sylviculturists the meat and the hides it provided. Once the (e.g. Borgesius & van Tol 1998, Feijen 2003, horse was domesticated, other material, and Bobiec et al. 2011, Tanentzap et al. 2012), who immaterial, values w​​ere added. The horse argue that that landscape was heavily and not only played an important role in trans- densely forested and that this would have lim- port and warfare, but also in religion, folk- ited the numbers and impact of large herbi- lore and in providing social status. By being vores. The debate on this continues to this day. able to ride horses, people were able to move Koniks have successfully developed both rapidly over large distances. This greatly con- on the Ennemaborgh Estate and in the Oost- tributed to the spread and influence of the vaardersplassen and have also been intro- Indo-European tribes from their area of ori- duced to other Dutch nature reserves (fig- gin, the Eurasian steppes (Anthony 2007). ure 5). On the Ennemaborgh Estate, human The views on the last wild horses in the intervention limits the number of koniks to Great Wilderness varied quite a lot. In general, around 30-35 living on an area of ​​170 hec- people had little appreciation of them. These tares. By contrast, in the Oostvaardersplassen horses would have been too weak and have area, nature determines the size of their pop- had too ‘bad’ a character to be deployed for ulation, through natural food availability and the army or agriculture. The nobility, on the climatic factors. In recent years, the number other hand, were very interested in them. To of koniks there has fluctuated at around 900. them, this horse, like the aurochs, the wisent A few years ago, there were around 4000-5000 and the elk, was a sought-after zoo animal in Heck cattle, koniks and red deer on this site, the 16th Century. Nobles did not spare trouble which means one large herbivore per 0.5 ha. nor expense to get such special animals from Since the winter of 2002/2003, and especially afar into their zoos, to show them to family in late winter, large scale starvation of Heck members and high society, and acquire a lot of cattle, koniks and red deer have regularly prestige. For such reasons, the powerful Pol- occurred. Such a level of mortality was hith- ish nobleman Jan Zamoyski had wild horses erto unknown in the Netherlands. This mor- in his zoo around 1600, alongside other unu- tality, and possible management measures sual animals including even aurochs, an ani- to control it, have been (and continue to be) mal that then only occurred in the Royal For- fiercely debated, and return with some regu- est of Jaktorów, in Central Poland. In the larity in the mass media (van Vuure, in press). 1560s, the wild horse had already become so Under the current management regime of the rare in the Great Wilderness, that it was no Oostvaardersplassen animals that are near longer possible to supply the demand from death are shot, to avoid animal suffering and foreign nobility. public outrage. Dead Heck cattle and koniks Initially, the research on, and the breeding also need to be removed as much as possible of, koniks in Poland, by Vetulani and later the from the area, to prevent possible outbreaks Polish State, had nothing to do with nature

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Lutra_57_2_Text_v3.indd 121 06/02/2015 21:27 management. It started as a morphological sands of years ago’ (Staatsbosbeheer website, study of a group of ‘primitive’ horses, in an F.W.M. Vera in Kolbert 2012). By many it is agriculturally backward region. Grabowski seen as decisive evidence of the proposition & Schuch (1921) linked these horses, through that large herbivores are capable of counter- Brincken’s account, to the extinct Central acting forest growth by nature, and giving the European wild horse. Vetulani, in particu- landscape a park-like appearance. Terms like lar, added an aspect of national pride to this ‘letting nature have its way’, ‘primeval land- story. In a speech in 1927, he was proud that scape’, ‘Serengeti’ and ‘untouched wilderness’ the ‘tarpan’, as he called the extinct European are often used to describe the Oostvaarder- wild horse, had retained its superior features, splassen (Bethge 2001, Wigbels 2002, Veer not only in the koniks of Biłgoraj, but in more et al. 2005, Linnartz & Helmer 2009, van de Polish horses (Vetulani 1927). According to Klundert 2012, Kolbert 2012, Reed 2013): as him, this would open up unprecedented pos- such we are dealing with a case of, conscious sibilities for breeding horses especially for or unconscious, framing (van Vuure, in press). agriculture, and even for equestrian sports. That means, by a particular choice of words With financial support from the Ministries and way of reasoning, an image is evoked, of Agriculture and of War, which hoped for which in its clarity and simplicity can be better horses for agriculture and the army, he highly convincing, and finds easy acceptance began his breeding-back experiment in 1936 by the general public. The widespread fascina- (Vetulani 1938). For financial reasons, Vetu- tion for wildernesses and extinct animal spe- lani seems to have pretended, or to have even cies may contribute further to this. Yet, the thought to himself that a bred-back wild horse Oostvaardersplassen does not form a com- would also be fit for agriculture and the army. plete and primeval ecosystem, as would have Another aspect of back-breeding the konik existed in Mid-Holocene Europe (van Vuure, had to do with Poland, becoming an inde- in press). It is a biologically-artificial ecosys- pendent country again in 1921 after 126 years. tem, where some large herbivores are allowed Breeding the konik contributed significantly to be present and others (e.g. elk (Alces alces), to national pride (Czarnowski 1957, Lizet & wild boar (Sus scrofa)) are not, and moreover Daszkiewicz 1995, Wajrak 2000, Daszkiewicz under restrictive conditions imposed by man. 2003). Poland was ‘back on the map’ and had Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), an indige- been able ‘to breed back the European wild nous deer species in the Netherlands, were horse’, a horse that was so strongly associated initially present in the Oostvaardersplassen, with Polish nature and Polish history. but have been out-competed and have since The role allotted to the konik in the Neth- disappeared there (van Manen 2013). Large erlands was of a very different nature. Here, predators, such as wolf (Canis lupus), brown the ‘resurrected wild horse’ was chosen to give bear (Ursus arctos) and lynx (Lynx lynx) are nature its ‘original appearance’. This was one also missing. The general public is not really of the reasons why it was introduced to the aware of the appearance or functioning of an Oostvaardersplassen. The image of the konik ‘untouched’ European ecosystem, and is eas- as ‘bred-back primeval horse’, along with ily influenced by the choice of words used to Heck cattle as ‘bred-back aurochs’, greatly describe the Oostvaardersplassen. Moreover, contributes to the current perceptions of the the promotion of grazers and grazing projects Oostvaardersplassen (Markerink 2002, Vera leads to people to assume a priori that large et al. 2007, Smit et al. 2010). Nature managers herbivores are always able to have a strong and the media regularly describe this nature impact on tree growth. On the other hand, reserve as a ‘primeval landscape, such as those human empathy is put to the test by the reg- that could be seen in the Netherlands thou- ular massive starvation of these large herbi-

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Lutra_57_2_Text_v3.indd 122 06/02/2015 21:27 vores in late winter. The absence of large pred- tive’ horse breeds are probably able to do the ators leads to a concentration of starvation in same. In this respect, some also suggest the late winter (instead of throughout the year) Exmoor pony is an original wild horse - and and the absence of scavengers counteracts in some respects this horse breed resembles the rapid decay of dead bodies, moreover. The the wild ancestor even more (Hovens & Rijk- open treeless landscape makes these deaths ers 2013). However, the Exmoor pony too is even more visible. Here, the romanticism of not the original European wild horse; his- nature conservation and human empathy torical records, bone comparisons and DNA conflict with the harsh reality of nature. research have not been able to demonstrate this so far (Green 2013, van Vuure, in press). When looking to create large nature reserves Discussion in Europe (‘Rewilding Europe’), in which (nearly) all original (Holocene) animal spe- Although we have learned more in recent cies are introduced, the pros and cons of the years about the appearance and habitat of (primitive) horse breed to be used need to be the lost wild horse of Western and Central carefully considered. The fact is, in real-life Europe, not all details about them are yet natural situations these horses would also clear. More data from more bone finds, sup- have been confronted with large predators plemented with ancient-DNA research on such as wolves and bears, which will make these bones, may possibly shed more light high demands on the horses as regards defen- on them in the future. Bone research on wild sibility, running speed and sensory abilities. horses should focus on limb bones and denti- Despite all the commotion about the konik, tion, to learn more about niche adaptations. we can conclude that the efforts of Vetulani A decline in body size and the development did lead to the saving of the konik – which of (relatively) broader hooves were possibly was an old breed of farm horse. But there is among such adaptations. Comparative bone less unanimity about the konik’s ‘unique’ role research, to discriminate wild horses from in nature management. In the Oostvaarder- domestic horses, should preferably be done splassen, the disappearance of elder (Sambu- on large numbers of horse bones, since differ- cus nigra) and willow (Salix sp.) forests, the ent horse breeds can be osteologically similar close-grazed grass vegetations and the decline (Benecke 2006, Cieslak et al. 2010) and wrong of 36% of bird species since 1997, have led conclusions can be easily drawn. As regards many people to argue that there is overgraz- DNA research, mitochondrial DNA may elu- ing and ecological devastation (e.g. Bijlsma cidate relationships between horse breeds, 2008, Van Manen 2013, van Beusekom 2014). but does not allow us to determine a possible The discussion about the impact that large close relationship with originally wild horses. herbivores exert on the vegetation is still Many current horse breeds possess mitochon- ongoing, but is currently at an impasse and it drial DNA of their wild ancestors (Cieslak et is the question how it will be resolved. al. 2010). Nuclear DNA, on the other hand, One suggestion is enlargement: connecting will reveal more details about horse morphol- the Oostvaardersplassen to the south with the ogy and relationships. However, hardly any Horsterwold Forest or the Veluwe area. But nuclear DNA research on (Holocene) West- this would only provide a temporary relief ern and Central European wild horses has yet from the shortage of food for the large her- been done. bivores. After a few years, overpopulation It has been shown that konik horses are would reoccur, leading to the same discus- able to maintain themselves in certain nature sions that are being heard now. In addition, in reserves all the year round, but other ‘primi- the Veluwe area the approach to game man-

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Lutra_57_2_Text_v3.indd 123 06/02/2015 21:27 agement is totally different than that in the working methods has shown that his breed- Oostvaardersplassen. Also, there are veteri- ing-back experiment did not reach its objec- nary reasons for restricting the admission of tive. With these analyses, the myth of the Heck cattle and konik horses into the Veluwe. konik, as being the closest existing descend- The numbers of large herbivores in the Oost- ant of the European wild horse and the breed vaardersplassen seem to be decreasing, espe- most similar to it should be laid to rest. cially the number of red deer4. This opens up In itself, the konik performs well as a grazer an interesting new phase. Will their num- in some nature reserves in the Netherlands, bers continue to fall further? Will willows but its role might be taken over by (vari- and elders extend over the area, as a result of ous) other horse breeds. Other ‘primitive’ this? And why are the numbers of large herbi- breeds are also able to survive in such a sit- vores only decreasing now, and not, say, five uation all year round. The perception of the years before? Physiological research on these konik, as the breed most similar to its extinct large herbivores might explain how these ani- ancestor, played a major role in the prefer- mals adapt themselves to changing food lev- ence for this horse breed in the early 1980s. els and how they function in an ecosystem The framing of the Oostvaardersplassen as without predators. If the population decline, an ‘untouched natural ecosystem’ is unjusti- especially that of the red deer, does not con- fied, because of its incompleteness and arti- tinue, it could be possible to experimentally ficiality. The discussion on the appearance of introduce wolves into this area. Wolves are the Holocene natural landscape of Western specialised deer hunters and should strongly and Central Europe will doubtless continue reduce the numbers of deer. Elsewhere, it has unabated. been shown that wolves really are capable of this (Jędrzejewska & Jędrzejewski 1998, Flu- Acknowledgements: I want to warmly thank my eck 2000, Ripple and Beschta 2012). The ques- supervisors Jan Boersema and Karel Davids, of the tions of how wolves would behave socially Vrije University in Amsterdam, for many years super- in the Oostvaardersplassen area (would they vision of my research. I thank Zygmunt Vetulani for form one pack or more?), and how the public his support of my research and giving access to the would react to the presence and the impact of personal archives of his father, Tadeusz Vetulani. I wolves, would also be interesting issues. thank Marta Piszczatowska for the data relating to Jan Zamoyski. In addition to these, I thank various other informants for their help and co-operation. I thank the Summary and conclusions reviewers and the proofreader of this paper for their constructive criticism. This research reveals more about the physi- cal appearance and the habitat of the lost Holocene wild horse of Western and Central References Europe. This horse sub-species had a shoul- der height of 120–130 cm, had a dun to dark Anthony, D.W. 2007. The Horse, the Wheel and Lan- brown coat colour and a short erect mane. It guage. How Bronze-Age riders from the Eurasian probably lived in small groups in low densi- steppes shaped the modern world. Princeton Uni- ties in marshes along rivers and lakes. This versity Press. Princeton, New Jersey, USA. paper also clarifies the facts about the demise Baales, M. 2002. Auf der Fährte spätglazialer Pferde of this wild horse: how and where it came to bei Mertloch (Neuwieder Becken, Mittelrhein, an end. The analysis of the report by Brincken Deutschland). Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 50 (3): on the wild horse has shown that this report 109-133. is totally unreliable. The analysis of Vetulani’s Bendrey, R. 2012. From wild horses to domestic horses:

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Lutra_57_2_Text_v3.indd 128 06/02/2015 21:27 tische gelegenheidsvreters. Instituut voor Milieu- Wigbels, V.L. 2002. Leve de Oostvaardersplassen! vraagstukken, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Staatsbosbeheer, Regio Flevoland-Overijssel, the Netherlands. Netherlands. van Manen, W. 2013. Broedvogels van de buitenkaadse Zeiler, J.T. 1997. Hunting, Fowling and Stock-breed- Oostvaardersplassen in 1997, 2002, 2007 en 2012. ing at Neolithic Sites in the Western and Central SOVON-rapport 2013/30. SOVON Vogelonder- Netherlands. PhD Thesis, Groningen University, zoek Nederland, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. the Netherlands. van Vuure, T. 2005. Retracing the aurochs – history, Zeiler, J.T. & L.I. Kooistra 1998. Parklandschap of oer- morphology and ecology of an extinct wild ox. bos? Interpretatie van het prehistorische land­ Pensoft, Sofia, Bulgaria / Moscow, Russia. schap op basis van dieren- en plantenresten. Lutra van Vuure, T., in press. From kaikan to konik – Facts 40 (2): 65-76. and perceptions surrounding the European wild Zoller, H. & N. Haas 1995. War Mitteleuropa ursprüng­ horse and the Polish konik. lich eine halboffene Weidelandschaft oder von Veer, M., R. Abma & R. Berkers 2005. Recreatie in geschlossenen Wäldern bedeckt? S­chweizerische de Oostvaardersplassen anno 2005 – Aanbod, Zeitschrift für Forstwesen 146 (5): 321-354. gebruik, waardering en beleving. Stichting Recre- atie, Den Haag, the Netherlands. Vera, F.W.M. 1984. Voorstel voor introductie van Samenvatting Konik-paarden op het Stort. November 1984. Ver- gadernotitie ten behoeve van de vergadering van Over het ontstaan van de Poolse konik de Beheerscommissie Oostvaardersplassengebied. en de relatie ervan met het natuurbe- Vera, F.W.M. 2000. Grazing Ecology and Forest His- heer in Nederland tory, CABI, Wallingford, UK. Vera, F.W.M., F. Buissink & J. Weidema 2007. Wilder- Nadat de laatste ijstijd was geëindigd, heeft het ness in Europe: What really goes on between the wilde paard gedurende een groot deel van het trees and the beasts. Tirion, Baarn, the Nether- Holoceen als relatief zeldzaam dier weten te lands. overleven in het sterk beboste West- en Cen- Vetulani, T. 1927. Znaczenie konika polskiego dla traal-Europa. Jacht en verdrijving van zijn nauki i hodowli. Dziennik Urzędowy Lubelskiego voedselgronden door de mens hebben de aan- 21: 489-493. tallen van deze paarden steeds meer doen afne- Vetulani, T. 1936. Die Wiedereinführung des Wald- men. Waarschijnlijk heeft de laatste populatie tarpans in den Urwald von Białowieża (Bialowies). van deze paarden tot in de 16e eeuw in het wild Bulletin International de l’Académie Polonaise kunnen overleven in het grensgebied van Oost- des Sciences et des Lettres. Classe des Sciences Pruisen, Polen en Litouwen. De laatste exem- Mathématiques et Naturelles. Série B. Sciences plaren zijn door Jan Zamoyski ondergebracht Naturelles. 2. Zoologie: 205-215. in zijn dierentuin in Zwierzyniec (ZO-Polen). Vetulani, T. 1938. Beitrag zur Charakteristik der pri­ Daar is deze (onder)soort op het eind van de mitiven Landpferde Polens. Zeitschrift für Tier- 18e eeuw aan zijn eind gekomen. züchtung und Züchtungsbiologie 41 (3): 271-304. Op basis van het verslag van Julius Brin­ Wacznik, A. 2009. From foraging to farming in the cken in 1826, waarin vermeld werd dat de laat- Great Mazurian Lake District: palynological stud- ste wilde paarden rond 1806 gekruist zouden ies on Lake Miłkowskie sediments, northeast zijn met boerenpaarden, is Tadeusz Vetulani Poland. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany in Polen in 1936 een terugfokexperiment in 18: 187-203. het Bos van Białowieża begonnen. Het was de Wajrak, A. 2000. Powrót hitlerowskiej krowy. Gazeta bedoeling om, door selectie en kruising van Wyborcza, nr. 76 (30-3-2000), Magazyn nr. 13: boerenpaarden uit de omgeving van Biłgoraj, 6-15. de wilde voorouder terug te krijgen. Na Vetu-

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Lutra_57_2_Text_v3.indd 129 06/02/2015 21:27 lani’s dood in 1952 is dit experiment door de whether ‘tarpan’ was a designation for originally Poolse staat overgenomen en verplaatst naar wild horses or for feral domestic ones. Popielno (NO-Polen). Na staking van het 2. Arguments for this point of view can be drawn terugfokexperiment, rond 1970, wordt de from research on pollen, bones and plant macro- konik daar tegenwoordig alleen nog als ‘primi- fossils (e.g. Zoller & Haas 1995, Mitchell & Cole tief paardenras’ gefokt. 1998, Zeiler & Kooistra 1998, Litt 2000, Sven- Op grond van diverse argumenten is aan- ning 2002, Mitchell 2005), from insect research getoond dat het verslag van Brincken over (e.g. Girling 1989, Dinnin & Sadler 1999, Ponel het wilde paard niet op waarheid berust. Om et al. 2000, Svenning 2002) and research on deze reden, en omdat Vetulani zijn experiment land molluscs (e.g. Gedda 2001, Svenning 2002, op een onzorgvuldige manier heeft uitge- Davies 2008). This is supported by the works voerd, moet diens terugfokexperiment als niet by Roman writers like Caesar (58-52 BCE) and geslaagd worden beschouwd. Tacitus (98 CE) (for both: see Timpe 1989). In het kader van een goedkoper en ‘natuurlij- Other evidence can be found in the history of ker’ natuurbeheer, zijn in 1981 koniks in Neder- the primeval Forest of Białowieża (Błoński et al. land op het landgoed Ennemaborgh uitgezet, en 1888, Hedemann 1939), from descriptions and in 1984 in het natuurreservaat Oostvaarders- palynological research of the Great Wilderness plassen. De konik werd en wordt in de beeldvor- in what was formerly East Prussia (e.g. Hirsch ming namelijk beschouwd als ‘de meest recente 1863, Schlüter 1921, Mortensen 1938, Mager afstammeling van het wilde paard’. Door een 1960, Kupryjanowicz 2004, 2007, Wacznik 2009, bepaalde woordkeuze door de beheerders van de Pluskowski 2013), from research on the Meso- Oostvaardersplassen en sommige media, zoals lithic and Neolithic ‘submerged forests’ on the ‘de natuur haar gang laten gaan’, ‘oerlandschap’ British coasts (Timpany 2005), and from Louwe en ‘Serengeti’, is er sprake van het framen van de Kooijmans (2012). Oostvaardersplassen als een ongerept en natuur- 3. In Germany, the brothers Heinz and Lutz Heck, lijk ecosysteem. according to their account, got there before him by a few years. In 1933 already, they claimed to Received: 6 January 2014 have bred a ‘Waldpferd’ (‘forest horse’) (Heck Accepted: 7 December 2014 & Heck 1934). They had done this by crossing Przewalski’s horses with Icelandic horses and Notes koniks. Later, especially during World War II, 1. There is disagreement on the scientific naming they would cross in even more koniks, most of of this horse. Some use the name Equus ferus for them illegally obtained from Vetulani’s experi- it, as distinct from Equus caballus, the domestic ment at Białowieża. horse. Others use the name Equus caballus or 4. After a continuous increase since 1992, from Equus caballus ferus. The name Equus ferus was 2011 on the number of red deer started to fall. first given by P. Boddaert (1785), based on the On 1 May 2011, the number of red deer was data by S.G. Gmelin (1770). However, there are around 2870, on 1 May 2012 it was around 2490, doubts about the original wildness of the horses and on 1 May 2013 it was around 1910. On 1 described by Gmelin (van Vuure, in press). May 2014, after an exceptionally mild winter, the For the Holocene wild horse of Western and number had increased to around 2390 (see the Central Europe, I use the term ‘wild horse’, annual reports on this on the website of Staats- by analogy with ‘wild cat’ (Felis silvestris) and bosbeheer (Dutch Forestry Commission): http:// ‘wild boar’ (Sus scrofa). In the course of the 18th www.staatsbosbeheer.nl/Nieuws%20en%20 Century, the name ‘tarpan’ popped up in the achtergronden/Themas/Oostvaardersplassen/ literature on the Russian steppes. It is not clear Feiten%20en%20cijfers.aspx

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