කැලෑ අශ්වයන් යළිත් ස්ටෙප්ස් තණබිම් වලට

Przewalski's horses released into the wild in Xinjiang

Eighteen Przewalski's horses were released into the wild on Friday in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in efforts to restore the population of this critically endangered species.

It is the 18th batch of the Przewalski's horses returning to the wild in Xinjiang, bringing the total number of the endangered species released so far to 146.

The seven stallions and 11 mares, aged between two and 15 years old, were released into the Kalamaili Ungulate Nature Reserve that covers part of the arid steppes of the westernmost Chinese region.

In order to acclimatize the rewilded horses to their new environment, the reserve staff have put in alfalfa grass and other forage in advance in the sparsely-vegetated area.

The reserve manager said that after the horses reach their habitat, the staff will step up patrols and keep records of the condition of the new members.

"The release this time is conducted in the spring season when the grass has mostly turned green. And the horses will have better overwintering ability after a summer of adaptation. We're going to put locator collars on them and monitor them with modern equipment such as drones," said Yang Jianming, director of the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding and Research Center.

The Przewalski's horse, also known as Asian wild horse, which retains the original genes of equine animals, is a first-class protected animal in China, and is also the only existing wild horse species in the world.

Since 1985, China has successively brought in 24 Przewalski's horses from abroad, and established the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding Research Center in the next year, launching a plan to expand the population of the horse and release them to the wild, so as to eventually achieve natural reproduction of the wild population.

After more than 30 years of research, the Przewalski's horse population in Xinjiang had reached 534 by the end of 2023, making it the world's largest breeding base for the endangered wild species.

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