Przewalski's Horse (Equus ferus przewalskii) Fact Sheet: Population & Conservation Status

Population Size

• Free-roaming and semi-wild populations
  • Approximately 1,200 individuals in Mongolia, China, and Russia (data as of 2019; Rademacher et al. 2020)
  • In 2011, IUCN lists as Critically Endangered (Boyd & King 2011)
    • One surviving mature individual remained in the wild at that time
• Managed care populations
  • Approximately 640 individuals in zoo and other managed care populations (Rademacher et al. 2020)
  • Approximately 120 individuals in 21 AZA institutions (Rademacher et al. 2020)

IUCN Status

• Endangered (2014 assessment) (King et al. 2015)
• Previous assessments
  • 2011: Endangered
  • 2008: Critically Endangered
    • Status changed due to one surviving mature individual in the wild
  • 1996: Extinct in the Wild
    • Previously listed as Extinct in the Wild from the 1960s up to the assessment in 1996

CITES Status

• Appendix I (UNEP 2018)

Extinction in the wild and reintroduction challenges (Boyd & Houpt 2004) (Boyd & King 2011)

• History
  • Extensive hunting by Mongolians & Europeans in the 19th & 20th centuries
  • Early interbreeding with Mongolian domestic horses and inbreeding resulted in genetic mixing in managed care populations
  • Cultural & political changes after WWII
    • Hunting
    • Military activities
    • Climate change, harsh winters of 1945, 1948, and 1956
    • Rarity of water holes in remaining habitat
    • Competition with livestock
    • Land use pressure from humans
    • Collecting trips by westerners
  • Last recorded sightings in Dzungarian Gobi Desert, Mongolia 1969 (prior to reintroductions)
• Causes of mortality among horses reintroduced in Mongolia and China
  • Hybridization with domestic horses; evolutionary genetics discussion in Der Sarkissian et al. (2015)
    • Also competition with horses and other livestock for resources (see Discussion in Kaczensky et al. (2017)
  • Conflict with herders over competition with domestic animals (Xia et al. 2014)
  • Infectious disease transmission from domestic horses
    • Equine piroplasmosis (Tarav et al. 2017)
      • A tick-transmitted disease endemic in Mongolia
        • Very high prevalence: > 80% of individuals (Tarav et al. 2017)
      • Young horses at risk of death due to infection (Tarav et al. 2017)
        • Important to consider in context of reintroductions
    • Granulocytic anaplasmosis (Sim et al. 2017)
      • Tick-transmitted disease resulting in lethargy, weakness, fever, reduced feeding
    • Infection by Streptococcus equi which causes strangles, a highly contagious infection of lymph nodes and upper respiratory tract
  • Habitat loss
    • Loss of high-quality winter pastures
    • Space area restrictions slow population growth (see Tatin et al. 2009)
    • Industrial development
      • Xia et al. (2014) report this as a significant cause of mortality in reintroduced herds to Kalamaili Nature Reserve, China
    • Illegal mining
  • Predation
    • Wolves
    • Hunting by humans
  • Other causes of mortality:
    • Trauma
    • Exhaustion
    • Urolithiasis, pneumonia
    • Birth complications
    • Attacks on foals by stallions

Conservation

• First International Symposium on the Preservation of the Przewalski’s Horse organized by Prague Zoo in 1959
  •   More symposia in 1965, 1976, 1980, 1990, and 1999
• By 1979, there were 385 horses in 75 institutions in Europe, North America, and Cuba
• In 1979, North American breeders formed the first Species Survival Plan
• Cooperative breeding programs have now been adopted in Europe, Australasia, and Russia
  • Manage about half of the global population
• Genetic sequences quite different from domestic horses (Goto et al. 2011; Orlando et al. 2013; Der Sarkissian et al. 2015)
  • High level of genetic variation, similar to domestic horses, despite genetic "bottleneck" that caused severe reduction in numbers during the Ice Ages (Orlando et al. 2013)
  • Little recent interbreeding between Przewalski's and domestic horses (Goto et al. 2011; Orlando et al. 2013)
• Vegetation assessments used to inform where to reintroduce Przewalski's horses in the wild (e.g., Fedorov et al. 2018)

Reintroduction Projects

• Mongolia
  • Hustain Nuruu (50,000 ha)
    • Begun by Netherlands Govt. in Mongolia
    • Populated by takhis from the Dutch Foundation for the Preservation and Protection of the Przewalski Horse 
  • Gobi B (881,000 ha National Park)
    • Begun by Mongolian Govt & Christian Oswald Foundation of Germany
    • Populated by takhis from Askania Nova, and Australia
    • Now supported by WAZA with takhi’s coming from 20+ different institutions in 8+ countries
  • Khomiin tal (25,000 ha)
    • National Park in Western Gobi) Station Biologique du Tour du Valat WWF
• China
  • Xinjiang — Kalameili Nature Reserve (1,700,000 ha)
    • Begun with 18 horses from European and American zoos
    • 2001: first reintroductions (Xia et al. 2014)
      • Managed during winter to increase access to food and prevent conflict with local herdsmen

Semi-reserves

• U.K. – Eelmoor Marsh (66 ha - Marwell Zoo)
• Germany – Sprakel (68 ha – Cologne Zoo)
• Austria – Neusiedeler See (300 ha National Park – Tierpark, Schonbrunn, Wien)
• Hungary – Hortobagy:  Named “Pentezug – (2,400 ha National Park – Cologne Zoo)
• France – Le Villaret: Swiss-born, behavioral ecologist, Claudia Feh acquired 11 horses from European zoos and established TAKH.
  • Partners with WWF-France (55 horses)
• Ukraine – Askania Nova (2000 ha) and Chernobyl (207,000 ha) Ukraine Government
• Usbekistan – Bukhara (5,126 ha – Zoo Moscow)
• Kazakhstan – Altyn Emel (520,000 ha National Park – Munich and Nurnberg Zoos
• China – Gansu (6,700 ha) Munich Zoo

Reintroduction planning

• Naundrup et al. (2015) examine climate and geographical factors for planning E. ferus (and E. ferus przewalskii) reintroductions

Few mature Przewalski's horses live in the wild.

Managed care breeding and reintroduction efforts have helped the recovery of this species.

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved.

Boyd & Houpt (2004)
Boyd & King (2011)
Breining (2006)
Gato et al. (2011)
King et al. (2015)
Moehlman (2005)
Robert (2005)
Ryder (1993)
Wakefield (2006)
Zimmerman (2005)