Extinct
Around the World in 80 Days - Day 9
Phileas Fogg would be sailing past Eritrea now. These would have been seen in Eritrea, but also Ethiopia, Morocco, Egypt, and more. They are a subspecies of Hartbeest. They were domesticated by Egyptians 3000 years ago. The last captive bred one died in 1923. The last real herd of them was in Morocco, and the last of that one was killed in 1925. There seems to be a dispute as to when they actually went extinct. Most seem to say extinction was with that herd in Morocco, others say there were still some in 1945 and possibly into 1954. Other than humans, the Barbary Lion was their only real predator. They were plentiful until the French conquest of Algeria saw entire herds slaughtered by the military.
I have purposefully not painted prey animals like this on the run. I don't want them to seem as if they are running from a predator. I do hope I have portrayed it as more happy and having a bit of the zoomies instead of running from anything. This made me feel all nostalgic about horseback riding. I haven't been in many years, and I miss it. Really, I'd be happy simply to be able to hang out with a horse. My father-in-law had horses. This one was Cannon. He was a sweet horse, though Firecracker, the other horse, didn't let Cannon come up to me because he wanted to monopolize all my time. My youngest especially loved Cannon though, and pretty much everybody else was allowed to pet Cannon if I kept Firecracker occupied with snuggles. Cannon was 32 years old when he died. Firecracker was a bit younger, but sadly he died from colic a while after Cannon died. Some day if we can get property, I would love to have a horse or two. I have a fairly long list of favourite horses: Gypsy Cobs, Fresians, pretty much any draft horse really, Arabians, and Haflingers are all my favourites. I follow a couple horse rescues, and could possibly end up with a rescue Arabian or draft horse, but it is highly unlikely. Not sure I will ever be able to afford a horse, but I love the idea of thinking it could happen eventually.