Asian wildlife: Takhi or Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii), Hustai Nuruu National Park, Töv, Mongolia. Endangered (IUCN, 2013). The Przewalski's horse is the only remaining truly wild horse in the world. The Przewalski's horse should not be confused with free-roaming horses descended from domesticated ancestry; those are feral horses rather than a true wild horse species or subspecies. The Przewalski's horse can hybridize with domestic horses but there are distinct genetic differences with domesticated horses and the Przewalski's horse is not the ancestor of modern domestic horse. That was likely another subspecies, potentially the now extinct Tarpan (Equus ferus ferus). After the Przewalski's horse went extinct in the wild in 1960s, it only remained in zoos. It was reintroduced into the wild in 1992 in Hustai Nuruu National Park through a collaboration of the Mongolian government with a Dutch NGO and the Dutch government. Since 2003 the National Park is managed by a Mongolian NGO rather than the Mongolian government; the Hustai National Park Trust. The reintroduction and accompanying programs for livestock herders in the buffer zone and investments to ensure the long term sustainability of the National Park were a 20 year long effort. It can be considered a success with about 270 individuals in Hustai Nuruu National Park alone in 2013. There are now also two other wild populations in Mongolia and one in China.

Click here for other images of the Takhi or Przewalski's horse. Click here for images of cinereous vultures. Click here for images of Siberian ibex. Click here for images of argali. Click here for images of Mongolian gazelles. Click here for other images from Mongolia.

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Takhi or Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus ssp. przewalskii), Hustai Nuruu National Park, Töv, Mongolia