BACK TO WILD

The Przewalski horse is the last wild horse. The horse is named after the Russian colonel Nikolai Przewalski. The name is of Polish origin, and "Przewalski" is the Polish spelling. He was the explorer and naturalist who first described the horse in 1881, after having gone on an expedition to find it, based on rumours of its existence. Many of these horses were captured around 1900 by Carl Hagenbeck and placed in zoos. These captured horses reproduced and formed today’s population. As noted above, about twelve to fifteen formed today’s population.

The World Wildlife Fund is supporting the Przewalski horse project. Przewalski’s horses, named after the Russian explorer who first described them scientifically, were once native to China and travelled freely across the wilds of the Eurasian steppe covering Russia, Mongolia, and Eurasia. But they were driven to the brink of extinction after Przewalski’s 19th-century discovery of the species led to an increase in their appeal. Many were killed or captured and taken to zoos across the world, while others were displaced by human land use. Of the 2,000 Przewalski’s horses left in the world today, only 300 live in the wild, having been part of reintroduction programmes first.

Colonel Nikolai Przewalski identified the species by using the bones and skins of the horse. They are very difficult to catch and there are only a few that exist in zoos.

A scientist named Feh first put the horses in a zoo, and then sent them back to the wild. The Causse Méjean landscape in France is quite similar to that in Mongolia where the horse used to live. He spent 6000 hours doing the experiment, changing the nature of the Przewalski horse so that it would attack and fight other horse species. Then Feh took the horses to Mongolia to roam in an area of 13,000 hectares of grassland where the horse used to live. Feh’s project is also known as "Wild Horse Mesh".

There are 37 Przewalski horses in the project, and they serve as a genetic reservoir if their species is under threat of extinction. There are three groups of the Przewalski horse in the plan which has been re-established by Feh.

If Przewalski’s horses breed with domestic horses, they produce fertile hybrids, which has the potential to quickly adulterate the species and undo the work of the project. So, organisers have decided first to place the horses in a fenced-off area to stabilise the population and fend off the risk of losing their gene pool.

The native population declined in the 20th century due to a combination of factors, with the wild population in Mongolia dying out in the 1960s. The last herd was sighted in 1967 and the last individual horse in 1969. Expeditions after this failed to locate any horses, and the species had been designated "extinct in the wild" for over 30 years.

After 1945 only two captive populations in zoos remained, in Munich and in Prague. The most valuable groups, in Askania Nova, Ukraine, were shot by German soldiers during World War Two occupation, and the group in the United States had died out. Competition with livestock, hunting, capture of foals for zoological collections, military activities and harsh winters recorded in 1946, 1948 and 1956 are considered to be the main causes of the decline in the Przewalski’s horse population. By the end of the 1950s, only 12 individual Przewalski’s horses were left in the world.

The species is being introduced into its original habitats after 20 years of extinction in the wild, as the result of hunting, capture and habitat loss. The decline of pasture in Mongolia is mainly because of grazing pressure. The scientists are now discussing the horses with local people and working with them to protect the animals together.