Home / English Column / Environment / Environment -- Ecological China Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read
Rare Horses Thrive in Xinjiang
Adjust font size:

The Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding Research Center in northwest China has successfully bred 290 heads of Przewalski's Horse, the largest number in captivity in Asia.

 

Przewalski's Horse is the only surviving species of wild horse. They originally inhabited the Junggar basin in Xinjiang, as well as the areas bordering Gansu Province and Inner Mongolia.

 

Hunting and poaching wiped the last wild communities out in the 1970s. Now only 700 members are left, living in captivity in Germany, Britain and the United States.

 

China's State Forestry Administration reintroduced 18 Przewalski's Horses to the Junggar basin in Xinjiang in 1986. The Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding Research Center now boasts one of the highest breeding survival rates for Przewalski's horses in the world.

 

Przewalski's Horse is considered biologically significant because its preserves the original genes of the horse before they were bred in captivity. 

 

(CRI September 18, 2006)

Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read

Related Stories
Archaeologists Probe Origin of Domestic Horses Through DNA
Xinjiang Solicits Donations for Rare Wild Horses
 
SiteMap | About Us | RSS | Newsletter | Feedback
SEARCH THIS SITE
Copyright © China.org.cn. All Rights Reserved     E-mail: webmaster@china.org.cn Tel: 86-10-88828000 京ICP证 040089号