In 2022, Chinese researchers at Jilin University and Northwest A&F University in northwest China's Shaanxi Province successfully extracted high-quality gene data from the fossils. Building on that work, they worked with American researchers in 2026, comparing the fossil data with living species, such as the Asian wild donkey and domestic horse. They reconstructed the skeleton, built up muscle structure, and eventually recreated the animal's full appearance.

　　The study shows that the "returned horse" is a fourth independent lineage of the horse family tree, alongside horses, zebras and donkeys. It split off roughly 2.7 million to 2.3 million years ago. Genetically, it is more closely related to donkeys and zebras than to domestic horses. It noted that this horse survived into the Bronze Age before eventually going extinct.

　　Lead researcher Cai Dawei, at Jilin University in Jilin Province, said that gene data can only tell what this animal was and when it disappeared, but together with evidence from its bones and body shape "scientists can understand this extinct species as a complete organism, from its skeleton to its physical appearance."

　　Evolutio LLC said every stage of the workflow was grounded in verifiable scientific data, and the resulting model can be used for both research and science education.

　　The research team expects that the reconstruction will enable the public to gain an intuitive understanding of an extinct horse that once coexisted with humans.