For more than thirty years, the center has had many successes, including the Przewalski’s Horse. Experts say the Przewalski’s is the last kind of wild horse left alive. The animal once lived in groups in Europe and Asia.
The horse gets its name from N. M. Przewalski, the Russian explorer who first described it in scientific terms. The animal looks powerful, although it is shorter than other horses. It measures about twelve to fourteen hands tall at the shoulders. The horse weighs about two hundred to three hundred forty kilograms. The body is light to reddish brown, but lighter on its underside. A thick mane grows from the top of the head and down the back of the neck.
BOB DOUGHTY: Until two years ago, the Red List of Threatened Species of the World Conservation Union said Przewalski’s horses were extinct in the wild. Experts blamed the disappearance on hunting and reproduction with other horses. Other reasons included a severe climate, and loss of living space and water to farm animals.
But a number of Przewalski’s horses now live in captivity in zoos and research centers. Doctor Monfort noted the increased population at the Institute in Front Royal.
STEVE MONFORT: “We have twenty seven individuals here, the largest managed population in the United States. That species was down to twelve purebred individuals after World War Two.”
BOB DOUGHTY: Today, almost four hundred Przewalski’s horses have been returned to their ancestral homelands. The horses now live wild in Kazakhstan and along the border of Mongolia and China.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25