🇲🇳Mongolia·National Animal
🐎Przewalski's Horse
The last truly wild horse on Earth.
Przewalski's horse — called 'takhi' in Mongolian — is the only surviving species of wild horse never domesticated. It went extinct in the wild in the 1960s and was reintroduced to the Mongolian steppe in the 1990s from captive stock. About 2,000 now live in the wild again.
Why this animal?
The takhi is sacred in Mongolian culture and is genetically distinct from all domestic horses, with 66 chromosomes instead of 64. It's a symbol of the steppe and of successful species rescue.
Things to know
- ·Every Przewalski's horse alive today descends from just 13 captured individuals.
- ·They have a short, upright black mane — no forelock — unlike domestic horses.
- ·Hustai National Park in central Mongolia was created specifically to reintroduce them.
- ·Despite being labelled 'wild,' some recent genetic studies suggest they may descend from an ancient domesticated lineage that escaped — they would still be the only horses to have permanently re-wilded.
- ·They survive winter temperatures of -40°C on the Mongolian steppe by growing a dense double coat.