Przewalski's horse (Equus przewalskii or E. ferus przewalskii), or Przewalski's wild horse (also called the takhi, Mongolian wild horse or Dzungarian horse), is an endangered wild equine species in the family Equidae native to the steppes of Central Asia. Despite being rare in the wild, it is fairly common in captivity at zoos around the world.
The species' common name is after Russian geographer and explorer Nikolay Przhevalsky (pronounced loosely as "she-VAL-ski"). For years, Przewalski's horse was declared extinct in the wild; however, thanks to captive-breeding successes in the 1980s and 1990s (at several international zoos), it has been successfully reintroduced to Mongolia's Khustain Nuruu National Park, Takhin Tal Nature Reserve and Khomiin Tal, as well as several other locations in Central Asia and NW China.
In Ukraine, the Askania Nova Nature Reserve held the highest captive population of Przewalski horses for many years. Following the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster of 1986, the city's human population was forced to evacuate, with the government declaring the region an "exclusion zone" and off-limits due to the high levels of radiation permeating the area. In the years since, the forest gradually reclaimed Chernobyl, with numerous species of animals and plants returning and naturally adapting to the radioactive environment. In 1998, a herd of around thirty Przewalski's horses was introduced to the Chernobyl region from Askania Nova, and today numbers around 100 animals; however, unregulated hunting and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have had negative impacts on animals in the area.
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