The Przewalski horse (Equus ferus przewalskii) [pʐɛvalski], also called Takhi, Mongolian Тахь, [1] Je-ma / Yěmǎ Chinese 野马, [2] Asian wild horse or Mongolian wild horse, was previously considered the only subspecies of the wild horse, the in their wild form has survived to this day. A publication in the journal Science in 2018 shows that Przewalski horses 5000 years ago are wild Botai horses. [3] [4] It is named after the Russian expedition traveler Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky, who in 1878 brought from one of his expeditions to Central Asia the skin and skull of the wild horse species, largely unknown in the Western world and not scientifically described, to St. Petersburg.
The Przewalski horse was already very rare at the time of its first scientific description. The last free-living Przewalski horse was seen in 1969. However, the Przewalski horse has been preserved to this day, as some large landowners and zoos continued to breed the species in captivity. However, shortly after the end of the Second World War, fewer than 40 individuals were kept in human care. Only foals of this subspecies were born in the Prague Zoo and Hellabrunn Zoo. The establishment of a studbook and the breeding in some zoos has increased the number back to 2,000 individuals. In several initiatives is trying to establish Przewalski horses back in the wild. The international studbook is kept in Prague, the EEP stud book in the zoo in Cologne.
Source: Wikipedia