Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii).
Image: PtrQs, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
At a glance
- IUCN category
- EN · Endangered
- Animal group
- Mammals
- Population trend
- Increasing
- FaunaHub record reviewed
- Checked against IUCN
- Needs review — not found in IUCN's published checklist under this name (it carries species-level assessments only)Checked 2026-10-09 against IUCN's Red List export published 2026-07-28
Conservation overview
Przewalski's horse is the only truly wild horse never to have been fully domesticated, a stocky, dun-coloured horse of the Central Asian steppe. It is assessed as Endangered.
It was once Extinct in the Wild and has been brought back through captive breeding and reintroduction to Mongolia.
Range & habitat
Steppes of Mongolia and central Asia; reintroduced from captivity after being Extinct in the Wild.
Major threats
Threats below are drawn from the authoritative sources listed on this page. For the current, complete assessment, see the IUCN Red List.
- A small, formerly captive-only population
- Hybridisation with domestic horses
- Habitat loss and harsh winters
Why it matters
The last wild horse and a flagship of the Mongolian steppe, Przewalski's horse is a landmark example of a species returned to the wild from captivity.
Gallery
Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii).
Image: Achim Lammerts (Syntaxys), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Sources
Sources for Przewalski's Horse
- IUCN Red List — look up Przewalski's Horse (authoritative status)
- Animal Diversity Web