World's last remaining wild horses aren't really wild after all

FILE PHOTO: Przewalski's horses graze at the acclimatisation enclosure in the early morning hours at the Takhin Tal National Park, part of the Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area, in south-west Mongolia, June 23, 2017. Picture taken June 23, 2017. REUTERS/David W Cerny/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It may come as a disappointment to equine enthusiasts, but a new genetic study has found that no truly wild horses still exist and that a population inhabiting Mongolian grasslands actually is a feral descendant of the earliest-known domesticated horses.

Przewalski's horse, now numbering roughly 2,000 in Mongolia, was long thought to be the last wild horse -- meaning no history of domestication -- unlike other free-roaming horses like the mustangs of the western United States that descended from steeds brought to North America centuries ago by Spaniards.