After 200 years, a birth of the world’s last truly wild horse on Kazakhstan’s steppe

In the early morning hours of 22 August, conservationist Albert Salemgareyev got an excited call from a colleague. 

A seven-year-old Przewalski’s horse, one of the rarest equines in the world, had just given birth at a remote wildlife sanctuary on Kazakhstan’s steppe. Experts believe the foal, a male, may be the first Przewalski’s horse born on these grasslands in two centuries.  

As soon as the call was over, Salemgareyev hopped in his car and drove a grueling 12 hours from Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, to the Alibi Reintroduction Centre, where he leads an effort to return Przewalski’s horses to the wild. When he arrived, the foal, still a little shaky on its feet, was huddled beside its mother.  

“For me, it was a very emotional moment,” says Salemgareyev. “It’s not just another horse for me. It's the beginning of a new generation here in Kazakhstan.” 

The foal’s birth was the result of a decades-long effort to save the Przewalski’s horse from extinction and “rewild” Kazakhstan’s grasslands, where human encroachment had sent biodiversity into a tailspin. 

“The community-based protection of these rangelands that led to the birth of this foal is one of the great conservation success stories of the last decade,” says Susan Gardner, the Director of the Ecosystems Division at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “It shows that when we put our minds to it, we can restore ecosystems and give species a second chance,”  

Pushed to the brink 

Przewalski’s horses once roamed the plains of Central Asia in large numbers, their short, stocky bodies ideal for retaining heat during the region’s brutal winters. 

But by the mid-1900s, hunting, habitat loss from farming and competition from livestock had decimated herds. The last of the horses was spotted in the wild in 1969, roaming the Gobi Desert alone.  

But the animals survived in European zoos, where an elaborate breeding programme helped keep their genetic pool diverse – and intact.  

That, conservationists say, is important. Przewalski’s horses occupy a unique branch of the equine family tree. They have two more chromosomes than other horses, and unlike their free-roaming counterparts in Australia and the United States of America, they have never been domesticated. (So-called “wild” horses like mustangs are the feral offspring of domesticated horses.) 

Experts consider Przewalski’s horses the world’s last truly wild horses, and their demeanor exemplifies that: the animals are hard to handle and almost impossible to ride. 

The comeback 

In 2005, the Kazakh government launched an effort to restore 75,000 square kilometres of steppe and semi-desert that had been damaged by overgrazing, unsustainable farming practices and climate change. Known as the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative, the longstanding partnership has been named a UN World Restoration Flagship, an award that honours ground-breaking efforts to revive natural spaces. 

“Well-managed pastoralism can help keep these landscapes healthy, for both wildlife and livelihoods,” said UNEP’s Gardner. 

Conservationists focused first on bolstering populations of endangered saiga antelope and the kulan, a type of wild ass. 

Then Salemgareyev and colleagues turned to Przewalski’s horse. Since 2024, 22 horses have been airlifted from European zoos to the reintroduction centre. There, in a series of fenced enclosures, the animals are taught how to live in the wild, with conservationists showing them how to dig in the snow to find food, among other things. The new arrivals included two females, Tessa and Umbra, a 6-year-old mare.  

Eight days after Tessa gave birth to her history-making foal, Umbra followed suit with another male. Both foals are yet to be named. 

For Salemgareyev and his colleagues, the births were a point of national pride. “They didn't come from another country,” he says. “They are actually citizens of Kazakhstan.” 

The return of the horses is an important moment in the restoration of Kazakhstan’s steppe. Large herbivores like horses are essential for healthy grasslands. Their grazing keeps plant growth in check, preventing wildfires. As herds move across the terrain, horses’ hooves gently loosen topsoil, while their manure returns essential organic nutrients back to the earth.  

The next generation 

As with all horses, the foals were standing and drinking from their mothers within 30 minutes of being born. A few days later, they were trying to jump and gallop. By their third week, they had nearly doubled in size, says Salemgareyev. 

“They are growing so fast.” 

Przewalski’s horses live in small groups of five to 10 animals known as a harem. Over the coming weeks, conservationists will monitor how the other harem members react to the foals. They’ll also be tracking whether Tessa and Umbra show their offspring how to drink water, taste herbs for edibility and sound the alarm for predators.  

For now, both foals – who have the same father, a stallion named Zorro – will remain with their harems in the confines of a 56-hectare enclosure. The big test will come next year, when a new stallion is introduced to the harems. (Zorro died in 2025.) In the wild, stallions have been known to harass or even kill the offspring of other males. 

If the transition goes well, the harems should be released into the wild at the beginning of May, says Salemgareyev. 

From there, they will need to forage and fend for themselves. The foals will likely stay in their harems until they’re three or four years old, then head out to join a bachelor group, says Salemgareyev. After that, they may seek out their own harem or return to their original harem, either challenging the dominant stallion for breeding rights or living a life of celibacy underneath him. 

But how exactly the horses’ social structure will play out remains unknown, since the animals have lived in captivity for generations. 

Conservation officials want to have 40 horses in Kazakhstan by 2029. Their end goal is to establish a stable, free-roaming population that doesn’t need human intervention. 

Salemgareyev grew up not far from the reintroduction centre, which is set amid yellowish grasses that stretch to the horizon. It is a “big, beautiful” landscape, he says, and one that the tan and brown Przewalski’s horse is made for. 

“When you see a horse on the steppe, it looks like it belongs on the steppe,” he says. 

Written by Andrew Raven 

Reviewed by James Lomax Natalia Alekseeva 

About the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration  

The UN General Assembly has declared 2021–2030 a UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Led by the UN Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, together with the support of partners, it is designed to prevent, halt, and reverse the loss and degradation of ecosystems worldwide. It aims at reviving billions of hectares, covering terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems. A global call to action, the UN Decade draws together political support, scientific research, and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration.   

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