Once almost lost to the wild, Przewalski's horses are galloping back

As February drew to a close, early spring approached in Berlin, but winter was not yet ready to let go. The wind was still cold, and patches of snow refused to melt.

In the Przewalski's horse area at Tierpark Berlin, the ground was a sheet of white. In the center stood a haystack, and around it, a dozen or so Przewalski's horses, a sandy-brown color against the snow, lowered their heads to eat. They buried their noses deep in the hay, and the warm breath they exhaled settled back onto their manes, turning into fine frost.

Przewalski's horse, the world's only remaining wild horse species, has an evolutionary history spanning over 60 million years. "They really like leaves," says Martin Kraenzlin, curator of mammals at the park. A keeper pushed a cart slowly across the snow, stopped at the edge of the herd and added bundle after bundle of hay, fresh branches, and even a Christmas tree.

Feeding Przewalski's horses is much simpler than feeding domesticated horses, Kraenzlin says. In winter, the animals are given hay and pelleted feed and in summer, fresh grass is added. Hay is available around the clock.

Meanwhile, order within the herd follows rules as old as the species itself. "In the wild, a typical group consists of one stallion and several mares," Kraenzlin explains. "But in Tierpark Berlin, where the herd is mare-dominated, the dominant animal is usually the oldest or strongest mare. That role can shift over the course of a year or when new individuals join."

It is hard to imagine that these calm, unhurried animals once nearly disappeared from the wild. Native to the Junggar Basin in China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and parts of Mongolia, the species is listed as a national first-class protected animal in China and remains endangered globally.

To bring the wild horse back has become a shared mission across borders. In 1985, China launched a program to reintroduce Przewalski's horses from overseas, and established breeding bases in Xinjiang and Northwest China's Gansu province.

In the late 1980s, the Endangered Animal Protection Center in Gansu introduced 18 founder animals from countries including Germany and the United States.

"From the beginning, we followed a phased approach aimed at rebuilding wild populations," says Wang Hongjun, a wildlife manager at the center. The population was divided into multiple smaller groups to build a solid breeding stock, laying the foundation for sustained population growth.

To strengthen that foundation, the center worked intensively on details. "By upgrading facilities, tightening day-to-day monitoring, and improving feed and nutrition across breeding seasons while adjusting herd structure to maintain genetic diversity, we have strengthened our overall capacity for breeding and conservation,"Wang explains.

Kraenzlin says China has done "outstanding work not only in breeding, but also in monitoring and winter feeding. That is especially important in the early stage of reintroduction, as cold winters and limited food mean a newly established population needs stable support".

One by one, the horses were brought back to their native range. They weathered winter after winter, and the population expanded steadily. In 2025, official data showed that the population of Przewalski's horses in China had surpassed 900, accounting for one-third of the global total.

"China's experience proves that large animals like Przewalski's horse can be successfully returned to the wild," Kraenzlin says.

Nevertheless, expanding the population remains a long-term task. "Today, wild populations are mainly found in China and Mongolia, but they are still relatively small," he says.

Alongside hunting and habitat loss, brutal winters have also historically been a key factor in the species' decline.

"Small populations are far less resilient to extreme winters than large ones," Kraenzlin says."Therefore, countries need to further cooperate in areas including introducing more individuals to bolster existing herds and promoting genetic exchange between them to ensure continued population growth.”