Two Endangered horses from Marwell Zoo have been released to the wild

Marwell Zoo has helped secure the future of one of the world’s rarest horse species with the successful release to the wild of two of its Endangered Przewalski’s horses.

Shara and Togs, two female Przewalski’s horses born and raised at Marwell Zoo, have been returned to the species’ native range in Kazakhstan as part of ongoing international efforts to save the species and prevent it from going extinct again.

Previously declared to be Extinct in the Wild on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List in 1969, the horses have made a remarkable comeback thanks to dedicated breeding and reintroduction programmes led by conservation organisations across Europe, including Marwell Wildlife.

The horses’ return to the wild is another important step forward in Marwell’s long-standing work with the species which has played a vital role in their return from extinction, being classified as ‘Endangered’ by IUCN in 2011.

Shara and Togs first travelled to Berlin, where they joined a larger group of horses who were also earmarked for release in Kazakhstan. The reintroduction is part of the Return of the Wild Horses project lead by the Prague Zoo with European partners Tierpark Berlin, the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK) and Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS), among others.

Ian Goodwin, Animal Operations Manager from Marwell Zoo, said: “We are proud to have played our part in bringing these incredibly special horses back to the wild, where not that long ago they were extinct.

“They were one of the very first species at the zoo when it opened in 1972, so we have been working with them for more than 50 years. Thanks to our strong breeding success, we’re able to play an active role in rebuilding wild populations where they belong.”

Przewalski’s horses typically live in harems consisting of a group of females and one stallion. Foals will stay with the harem until they are two-three years old, at which point males form bachelor groups before attempting to establish their own harems at around five years of age.

Historical records from the mid-18th Century suggest wild Przewalski’s horses were found across the Central Asian Steppes in what are now Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and northern China.

To find out more about Marwell see www.marwell.org.uk