Asian Wild Horse
Equus przewalskii

The domestic horse’s closest wild relative, the Asian wild horse became extinct in the wild 40 years ago. The Minnesota Zoo and other organizations around the world have cooperated to breed zoo animals and reintroduce their offspring to their native lands. Today more than 300 Asian wild horses again roam the steppes of China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan.

What They Eat
Asian wild horses eat coarse, shrubby plants and tall grasses.

Where They Live
The grassy steppes of Eurasia are the Asian wild horse’s historic range, though in recent years humans have forced it to the borders of the stony, sandy Gobi desert.

What They Do
Asian wild horses live in small herds, with a stallion, several mares, and young animals traveling together as they roam the grasslands in search of food to eat.

How They’re Doing
In the 1960s, Asian wild horses disappeared entirely from the wild. Since then, people have worked to preserve habitat and reintroduce animals from zoos to the protected lands. As of 2008, IUCN estimates there are about 325 Asian wild horses living in their native habitat in the wild.

Asian Wild Horse

• Asian wild horses have 66 chromosomes, two more than domestic horses. They can successfully interbreed with domestic horses to produce young with 65 chromosomes.
• Unlike domestic horses, Asian wild horses shed their mane and tail once a year.
• All Asian wild horses alive today are descended from 13–14 horses that were in captivity when the species became extinct in the wild.

Things you can do

Your visit to the Zoo helps support our conservation programs. You can also sponsor an animal at the Zoo.

 

 

Asian Wild Horse

Unable to thrive in the face of habitat loss, Asian wild horses disappeared from the wild in the 1960s. Several zoos have worked together to reintroduce this animal to the Asian steppes.

Things the Zoo's Done/Doing

The Minnesota Zoo has had Asian wild horses since opening in 1978. Over the years, we have raised and shared 40 horses with zoos around the United States. In 1991, we sent a genetically valuable stallion to a breeding program in the Netherlands. His offspring are now successfully reproducing in the wild. Mares from other zoos are brought to the Minnesota Zoo for breeding.

In recent years the Zoo’s conservation program has also supported the reintroduction in Asia. We have provided a snowmobile and radio collars to track and understand the successes and needs of the new wild population.

Conservation Notes

Asian wild horses, once abundant in Asia and Europe, declined as climate changes isolated the areas in which they were able to live and reproduce and native herdsman tried to keep them from competing with livestock. In 1969, the last Asian wild horse was seen in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.

After the species became extinct in the wild, zoos began captive breeding programs to increase the numbers and maximize genetic diversity among the handful of horses that remained.

A reintroduction project started in 1990 in cooperation with the Mongolian Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment.  A 24,000-acre steppe area in Mongolia was chosen as suitable habitat for reintroduction. In June 1992, 16 Asian wild horses were shipped to Mongolia. In 1994 and 1996, another two groups of 16 Asian wild horses were brought into the mountain forest steppe reserve in Mongolia. To help them get used to the climate, vegetation, and each other, the animals were kept in a large, fenced-in area for one to two years. Food and water was placed in the enclosure for the horses to find. The enclosures also protected horses from hunters and wolves.

China’s Wild Horse Breeding Center has been developing a breeding population since the mid-1980s. Transfers of horses from the United States, England, and Germany have helped the herd to grow to more than 100 animals. Twenty-six horses were released in the Gobi Desert in 2001. Several died after a harsh winter. The remaining animals have since reproduced and the population appears healthy.

In 2006, the Minnesota Zoo Ulysses S. Seal Conservation Fund provided funds to purchase a GPS satellite radio collar to allow tracking of a horse in collaboration with the Smithsonian National Zoo’s release and tracking project in China. The Minnesota Zoo has imported the two breeding mares, Loretta and Aliana, from the zoo in Köln, Germany. They are the mothers of the two foals born here in 2008.

Takhin Tal, another Mongolian reserve, has also released more than 40 Asian wild horses.

As of 2008, there are some 325 Asian wild horses once again roaming the wild steppes of Asia, thanks to the species-saving efforts of zoos and preservation groups and their captive breeding and reintroduction programs.

 

Asian Wild Horse

Range and Habitat 
Asian wild horses were once found throughout the steppes of Eurasia. They were forced by human encroachment into the western and northern borders of the Gobi Desert in marginal habitat with stony, sandy soil and shrubby vegetation. Today Asian wild horses are being reintroduced on protected lands in Mongolia and other parts of Asia.

Description
Asian wild horses are the size of a large pony, with a muscular body, large head, and stiff, erect mane. They are light brown, cream or yellow-gray with a white muzzle and black tail, mane, nostrils, and lower legs. They also have zebra-like striping on back of the front legs and a dark stripe on their back from mane to tail.

Habits and Adaptations
Social animals, Asian wild horses travel in herds made up of six to 16 animals—a stallion, several adult mares, some 2-years-olds, a few yearlings, and the current year’s foals. The stallion is the group leader and protector. When danger threatens, the mares and young animals line up with a young stallion at their head and a mature stallion guarding the rear. They generally travel in single file.

Communication between the horses is visual, auditory, and olfactory. Examples include ear positions, neighing, and flehmen. During flehmen, one horse sniffs another’s urine, then raises its head and draws back its lips while wrinkling its nostrils.

In the spring, when winter coats begin to shed, Asian wild horses will help the process by grooming one another with their teeth as they stand side by side and head to tail.

Eat and Be Eaten
In the wild, Asian wild horses eat coarse, shrubby vegetation and tall grasses. Wolves are their primary predator.

Life History
Females are sexually mature at 3–5 years of age; males mature a year or so later. Gestation is about 11 months. Most foals are born with a fuzzy mane and weigh 55–60 pounds. Generally, foals stay with their mother for two years. Asian wild horses live about 25 years in captivity.