Przewalski horses bred at Prague Zoo take off for introduction into ancestral habitat in Mongolia
Przewalski horses bred at Prague Zoo take off for introduction into ancestral habitat in Mongolia. Test for military’s new CASA plane.
A Czech military transport plane carrying four Przewalski horses took off from Kbely airport in Prague for Mongolia on Tuesday afternoon with three sedated mares and a stallion aboard. Following the 17-hour flight, in Mongolia the horses will be introduced into the wild. Prague Zoo and namely zoologist František Bílek played a key role in preserving the breed. The journey will also be a test for the Czech military’s CASA C-295M transport planes which have been plagued by technical faults.
Prague Zoo director Miroslav Bobek warns that transporting horses by air is a risky undertaking and that there have been cases of horses dying in flight. “We will try and eliminate all possible risks,” Bobek said before the horses were loaded onto the Czech military’s CASA transport plane, bound for the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator.
Several weeks prior to the flight, the horses were put into as large field at Prague Zoo’s premises in Dolní Dobřejov in order to acclimatize them to larger open spaces and they were given food in the transport boxes in which they are making the journey. The flight will make stop offs in Kazan and Novosibirsk and is due to arrive in Ulan Bator at 9:00 am CET on Wednesday. From the Mongolian capital the four horses will be driven about 250 kilometers west to the Khomiin Tal region and the Hustai Nuruu nature reserve, where the smallest of the three Przewalski herds in Mongolia is located.
The herd in the Hustai Nuruu reserve currently numbers 24 of which five were born in the wild and the rest introduced by a Dutch project in 2000 and a French project in 2005. The horses reintroduced in 2000 included a mare from Prague Zoo called Babeta who was recently spotted in the wild, Prague Zoo says on its website.
Czechs played key role in conservation
The last Przewalski horses in the wild became extinct in the 1960s, and the three herds currently in the wild in Mongolia all stem from reintroduction projects.
The Przewalski — also known by its Mongolian name Thaki, the Dzungarian Horse and the Mongolian Wild Horse — is the last breed of wild horse in existence in the world.
The first Przewalski, a stallion named Ali, was brought to the Czech Republic in 1921 by zoologist and hippologist František Bílek who purchased the horse from Halle in Germany. In 1923 he purchased a mare, Minku, and the two bred successfully bred. Bílek gave Ali and Minku to Prague Zoo in 1932, since when well over 150 Przewalskis have been born in its care; the zoo established the breed book for the Przewalski — a record of all the members of the breed born in captivity.
The transport of the horses will be closely watched not only by horse lovers: It is the first time the Czech air force is making a long-distance flight with one of the four CASA C-295M transport planes that were intended for use in Afghanistan but failed a series of tests. Technical issues aside, the European Commission has initiated legal proceedings against the Czech Republic for purchasing the planes without holding a tender.
A Czech military transport plane carrying four Przewalski horses took off from Kbely airport in Prague for Mongolia on Tuesday afternoon with three sedated mares and a stallion aboard. Following the 17-hour flight, in Mongolia the horses will be introduced into the wild. Prague Zoo and namely zoologist František Bílek played a key role in preserving the breed. The journey will also be a test for the Czech military’s CASA C-295M transport planes which have been plagued by technical faults.
Prague Zoo director Miroslav Bobek warns that transporting horses by air is a risky undertaking and that there have been cases of horses dying in flight. “We will try and eliminate all possible risks,” Bobek said before the horses were loaded onto the Czech military’s CASA transport plane, bound for the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator.
Several weeks prior to the flight, the horses were put into as large field at Prague Zoo’s premises in Dolní Dobřejov in order to acclimatize them to larger open spaces and they were given food in the transport boxes in which they are making the journey. The flight will make stop offs in Kazan and Novosibirsk and is due to arrive in Ulan Bator at 9:00 am CET on Wednesday. From the Mongolian capital the four horses will be driven about 250 kilometers west to the Khomiin Tal region and the Hustai Nuruu nature reserve, where the smallest of the three Przewalski herds in Mongolia is located.
The herd in the Hustai Nuruu reserve currently numbers 24 of which five were born in the wild and the rest introduced by a Dutch project in 2000 and a French project in 2005. The horses reintroduced in 2000 included a mare from Prague Zoo called Babeta who was recently spotted in the wild, Prague Zoo says on its website.
Czechs played key role in conservation
The last Przewalski horses in the wild became extinct in the 1960s, and the three herds currently in the wild in Mongolia all stem from reintroduction projects.
The Przewalski — also known by its Mongolian name Thaki, the Dzungarian Horse and the Mongolian Wild Horse — is the last breed of wild horse in existence in the world.
The first Przewalski, a stallion named Ali, was brought to the Czech Republic in 1921 by zoologist and hippologist František Bílek who purchased the horse from Halle in Germany. In 1923 he purchased a mare, Minku, and the two bred successfully bred. Bílek gave Ali and Minku to Prague Zoo in 1932, since when well over 150 Przewalskis have been born in its care; the zoo established the breed book for the Przewalski — a record of all the members of the breed born in captivity.
The transport of the horses will be closely watched not only by horse lovers: It is the first time the Czech air force is making a long-distance flight with one of the four CASA C-295M transport planes that were intended for use in Afghanistan but failed a series of tests. Technical issues aside, the European Commission has initiated legal proceedings against the Czech Republic for purchasing the planes without holding a tender.
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