The San Diego Zoo Safari Park has welcomed a young Przewalski’s horse, born this month to mother Nikki and father Ziggy.
The youngster was born through a pairing recommended by the Association of Zoo and Aquariums’ Przewalski’s Horse Species Survival Plan – a program that ensures healthy and genetically diverse Przewalski’s horse populations, overseen by conservationists nationwide.
Sometimes referred to as “the last wild horse,” the Przewalski’s horse is a critically endangered species that was considered extinct in the wild until 1996.
The species has survived for the past 40 years almost entirely in zoos around the world, and ongoing reintroductions of Przewalski’s horses into their native habitats have established several herds in grasslands in China and Mongolia.
