Paper short abstract:

This presentation traces the Przewalski's horse's journey through the 20th century. Focusing on life stories of individual horses spanning different historical periods, it explores how human interventions have shaped this species and how the understanding of these changes has evolved over time.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation traces the Przewalski's horse's journey through the 20th century, a unique yet representative story of charismatic endangered species in the Anthropocene. Hunted and persecuted by humans, the last Przewalski’s horses (takhi in Mongolian) living in the Dzungarian Gobi, were declared extinct in the wild by 1969. But the species endured due to the capture and global trade of several dozen foals at the dawn of the 20th century. They were prized as the last wild horses on Earth, exceedingly rare. Eleven of these edgy potbellied horses bred successfully in captivity within zoos and reserves, setting the stage for worldwide zoo trade and intensive breeding efforts. By the onset of the 1990s, their numbers increased to hundreds, and their survival was hailed as a zoo-based conservation success. However, concerns emerged as signs of domestication and troubling impacts of inbreeding on fertility and longevity came to light. When reintroductions returned horses to Mongolia, it became clear that while the captive-bred horses retained certain skills, such as defending against predators, they had lost vital features and behaviors - for instance immunity to deadly local parasites and knowledge of territory that enabled winter survival. The speed of their adaptation 'back to the wild' remained uncertain.

This presentation focuses on the life stories of several individual horses spanning different historical periods. Drawing from various sources, including archives, scientific publications, interviews and brief fieldwork, it explores how human interventions have shaped this species and how the understanding of these alterations has evolved over time.