Przewalski horses Back in Kazakhstan: A century dreams come true!

Przewalski horses Back in Kazakhstan: A century dreams come true!

Altyn-Dala-Steppe, Kasachstan - On June 12, 2025, an important step was celebrated in the resettlement of Przewalski horses in their original habitat in Central-Kasachstan. Four of these wild horses from the Berlin zoo were successfully released into the ALTYN-DALA steppe, a region that was home to this kind over 200 years ago. The released animals are part of an international project to maintain the endangered species, which pursues the goal of permanently locating at least 40 Przewalski horses in this region.

These four horses previously spent a year in a special release enclosure in Kazakhstan. They were transported to Kazakhstan together with three other animals from Prague in spring 2024. The transport, which lasted about 18 hours and included two stops, was successful. Even under extreme temperatures of up to minus 30 degrees, the group, which now forms the first herd of these horses in central case, was good.

cooperation for nature conservation

The project "Return of the Wild Horses", which is carried out in cooperation with several organizations, not only improves the population of the Przewalski horses, but also plays an important role in the restoration of functioning steppe echos systems. The initiative has been supported by the Frankfurt Zoological Society and the ACBK since 2006. The Przewalski horses act as ecosystem engineers by distributing natural resources over large distances and thus promoting the balance in their environment.

After the horses were monitored in the course of the year, two of them were equipped with GPS channels to pursue their development in the wilderness. Your return is referred to by experts as significant progress for global nature conservation. The Przewalski horses, known as the only surviving real wild horse, had disappeared from the Kazakh steppe in the 19th century, and their population had kept only in zoological facilities.

The progressive return

The return of the Przewalski horses in Kazakhstan is not the end of the efforts. Future transports of around 30 other horses are planned to establish a self -supporting population. The success concept has already proven in previous resettlement projects in Mongolia that it works. On June 6, 2023, a total of seven Przewalski horses from Europe, including animals from Berlin, were made at home in Kazakhstan. These horses, among which there are names such as Ypsilonk, Zeta II and Zorro, arrived in two convoys and were also accommodated in the acclimatization enclosure.

Another part of the initiative is to integrate the large herbivores of the steppe, such as Asian wild donkey (Kulan) and Saiga antelopes, to further stabilize the ecosystem. The return of the Przewalski horses is therefore not only a success for species protection, but also an important step towards the restoration of a healthy and diverse living space in Kazakhstan.

The anchoring of these horses in the natural habitat is a hopeful sign that long -term success in nature conservation can be achieved with suitable measures and international cooperation. The future of the Przewalski horses in their homeland looks promising.

For more information, please visit the reports from rbb24 , altyn dala conservation initiative and Tierpark Berlin .