FaunaHub
ENEndangeredPartial review

Przewalski's Horse

Equus ferus przewalskii

Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii), a stocky dun-coloured wild horse.

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
Last verified

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

A Przewalski's horse standing in grassland.

Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii).

Image: Achim Lammerts (Syntaxys), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Sources

Sources for Przewalski's Horse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Przewalski's horse just a feral domestic horse?
No. Unlike mustangs or brumbies (feral domestic horses), Przewalski's horse is a distinct wild horse that was never fully domesticated, and it even has a different chromosome count from the domestic horse.
How was Przewalski's horse saved?
It died out in the wild in the 20th century, surviving only in zoos; descendants of those animals have since been reintroduced to Mongolia, lifting it from Extinct in the Wild to Endangered. See the IUCN Red List.

Last updated: