The Przewalski’s Horse (or P-horse) is an ancient breed. If you were to walk around Eurasia 10,000 years ago during the last ice age, you would encounter Woolly Mammoths, Sabre-tooth Tigers and the Przewalski’s Horse.
Monarto Safari Park is proud to be home to three herds of Przewalski’s Horse, with every single horse vitally important to the future of the species.
In addition to the threats of habitat loss due to mining and farming, climate change and severe weather, the pure Przewalski’s Horse bloodline also faces the threat of inter-breeding with feral horses, leading to the species’ ultimate extinction.
The population at Monarto Safari Park is pure, making these animals vital to the global Przewalski’s Horse conservation program.
Przewalski’s Horses were once classified as extinct in the wild. However, in 1995 Monarto Safari Park participated in a program alongside Taronga Western Plains Zoo, which saw seven horses from Australia together with others from European Zoos successfully reintroduced to Takhi Tal Nature Reserve in Mongolia. The aim was for these horses to form functional breeding herds in their native habitat. It worked!
In 2008 the P-horse status was downgraded from extinct to critically endangered, with a second downgrade to endangered in 2014.
Although their population trend is slowly increasing, extremely harsh winters, wolves and fragmentation of breeding groups mean that the Przewalski’s Horse still needs our help.
Whilst horses now roam free, some do get supplemental feeding during the bitter winter to aid in their survival, especially so for the foals.
Many different zoos and conservation organisations have been involved in this most important of recovery projects. The success of the programs is a great example of good zoos working together to make a difference to endangered species around the world.
Try as hard as we might, we can’t do all this without the support of passionate people like you and partners like Prancing Pony Brewery.
