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Two Przewalski's horse foals were born in the grasslands of central Kazakhstan in August 2026, the first of the species born there in more than 200 years.
The first, a male, was born on 22 August 2026 to a seven-year-old mare named Tessa at the Alibi Reintroduction Centre in the Altyn Dala State Nature Reserve; a second male followed on 31 August to a mare named Umbra.
Both foals were sired by the same stallion, Zorro, which has since died.
The Kazakh reintroduction programme began in 2024 with seven horses flown in from Prague Zoo and Tierpark Berlin, followed by seven more in 2025 and eight in 2026, aiming for about 40 animals by 2029.
Przewalski's horse is the only living wild relative of the domestic horse; classified Extinct in the Wild after 1969, it was downgraded to Critically Endangered in 2008 and to Endangered in 2011.
The last confirmed sighting of a Przewalski's horse in the wild; the species is subsequently treated as Extinct in the Wild.
Sixteen captive-born horses are released at Hustai National Park in Mongolia, beginning the species' return to the wild.
IUCN reclassifies the species from Extinct in the Wild to Critically Endangered.
The status is further improved to Endangered, where it remains.
Kazakhstan's reintroduction programme begins with seven horses flown in from Prague Zoo and Tierpark Berlin to the Alibi Reintroduction Centre.
The first foal, a male, is born to the mare Tessa - the first birth of the species in central Kazakhstan in over 200 years.
A second male foal is born to the mare Umbra, by the same stallion.
Altyn Dala, meaning 'golden steppe', lies in central Kazakhstan and is the flagship landscape for restoring the Eurasian steppe ecosystem. The species' historical range ran across the steppe grasslands of Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and northern China; today's reintroduced populations are concentrated in Mongolia, at Hustai National Park, the Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area and Khomiin Tal, and now in Kazakhstan.
Protected steppe landscape in central Kazakhstan hosting the Alibi Reintroduction Centre where the foals were born
Keeper of the international studbook for Przewalski's horse and a principal source of animals for reintroduction, including the first Kazakh transfers
German zoological park that supplied horses alongside Prague Zoo for the Kazakh programme
Maintains the Red List of Threatened Species, on which Przewalski's horse is listed as Endangered after earlier categories of Extinct in the Wild and Critically Endangered
GS Paper III > Environment - conservation, biodiversity and species recovery; GS Paper I > World geography, steppe biomes
General Awareness > Environment, IUCN status of species in the news
An IUCN category for a species surviving only in cultivation, captivity or as a naturalised population outside its historic range; Przewalski's horse held this status after 1969.
A herbivore that digests plant fibre in the caecum and colon rather than a multi-chambered stomach, so it must eat large quantities of low-quality forage.
The deliberate release of a species into part of its historic range from which it has disappeared, with the aim of establishing a self-sustaining population.