ST. LOUIS – The Saint Louis Zoo’s WildCare Park added two Przewalksi horses this month, the last true wild horse breed, according to zoo staff.

What You Need To Know

  • Nika and Sarnai, the Przewalski horses, are settling in well at WildCare Park

  • This breed of horses were classified as extinct in the wild in the 1960’s due to numerous factors including dehabitation, climate change, predation, and health complications

  • Through coordinated breeding and reintroduction programs over the past 50+ years, the population has grown to about 2,000

  • Fans looking to catch a glimpse of this rare breed will have to wait until 2027, when the WildCare Park opens

“Nika and Sarnai are settling in well at WildCare Park,” stated the Zoo in a Facebook post. “This marks the first time that Saint Louis Zoo has cared for Przewalski’s horses.”

Native to Mongolia, the horses population dwindled in part to human habitation expansion but other factors played a role as well.

 “Factors such as competition with livestock, hunting, capture of foals for zoological collections, climate change, inbreeding and hybridization, predation and infanticide, restricted access to natural water source have been cited for the extinction of Przewalski’s horses in the wild,” stated an academist for the National Library of Medicine. “Another reason might be a series of harsh winters, for example, recorded in 1945, 1948, and 1956. – Predation by wolves is one of the significant mortality causes in Przewalski’s horses.”

The horses were classified as extinct in the wild in the 1960’s.

Saint Louis Zoo said through coordinated breeding and reintroduction programs over the past 50+ years, the population has grown to about 2,000. That count includes free-ranging groups established in their native habitats.

Fans looking to catch a glimpse of this rare breed will have to wait until 2027 when the WildCare Park opens.