Rare Przewalski's horse born at Warsaw zoo

A Przewalski's horse foal has been born at the Warsaw zoo, marking another milestone in international efforts to conserve the world's last truly wild horse species, officials said.

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Image by Marcel Langthim from Pixabay

The zoo announced the birth last week and launched a public contest to name the male foal.

Visitors have until Tuesday to submit suggestions, with this year's newborn animals at the zoo all receiving names beginning with the letter "S."

Warsaw Zoo described the birth as another step in the conservation of a species that disappeared from the wild in the late 1960s before being brought back through captive breeding and reintroduction programmes.

Przewalski's horses survived thanks to a captive population descended from just 12 animals kept in zoos, making coordinated international breeding efforts crucial to preventing the species' extinction, Poland's PAP news agency reported.

The species has since been reintroduced to parts of China and Mongolia, while Kazakhstan has become the focus of the latest restoration programme.

Earlier this year, eight Przewalski's horses from zoos in the Czech Republic, Germany and Hungary were transported to Kazakhstan as part of an international reintroduction project launched in 2024.

The animals were taken to an acclimatisation centre in the vast Altyn Dala nature reserve before their planned release onto the country's central steppes.

The long-term programme aims to relocate up to 40 horses from European zoos.

Conservationists say maintaining genetic diversity by sourcing animals from different breeding centres is essential to establishing a healthy wild population.

Przewalski's horses are stocky, with short, powerful legs and a sandy-brown coat with a pale underside and distinctive dark markings on their legs.

They resemble the extinct European wild horse, or tarpan, but differ from domestic horses in several anatomical features, including having one additional thoracic vertebra.

The species was declared extinct in the wild in 1969. Reintroduction efforts began in 1992, and by 2019 an estimated 871 Przewalski's horses had been living in the wild, according to conservation experts.

Today, the species is considered one of the world's leading examples of successful wildlife restoration through international cooperation.

(gs)

Source: PAP