47 rare wild horses born in China's Xinjiang

URUMQI - Forty-seven foals of the rare Przewalski's horse breed were born in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region this year, and the number of newborn foals has reached a record high.

The Przewalski's horse, named after its Russian discoverer, is an endangered species native to the desert grassland of Central Asia. It is considered the only wild horse in existence today.

The 47 foals were born in the Kalamaili Nature Reserve, the main habitat of the wild horses in northern Xinjiang's Junggar Basin, including seven foals in captivity, 10 foals in semi-captivity and 30 foals in the wild, said Ma Xinping, the director of the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding and Research Center.

There are about 2,000 Przewalski's horses in the world today. However, the rare horses were once extinct in Xinjiang in the wake of rampant hunting beginning in the early 19th century, before China started a breeding program in 1986 using 24 horses brought back from Britain and Germany to repopulate the subspecies.

The latest data from the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding and Research Center shows the wild horse population has reached 438, including 90 in captivity, 240 in the wild and 108 in semi-captivity.

Counting the wild horses at the Tianshan Wildlife Park, Xinjiang has become the region with the largest wild horse population in China.