Breakthrough in Hungary: Researchers solve the mystery of nearly extinct horses

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Hungarian researchers at the University of Debrecen used drones to create movement profiles of Przewalski’s horses to learn more about their family life and mating behavior. The results, published in the journal ‘Nature Communications’, enabled the researchers to solve a long puzzle.

Horses in the wild live together in family groups – called harems – that consist of a stallion and several mares and their offspring. Several harems can form a herd. Young mares that are sexually mature each join a different harem. But adult mares can do this too. So far, it is not clear which laws follow such changes. Until now.

Reconstruct group dynamics

Researchers used drones to image the movements of a herd of 278 wild horses in Hortobagy National Park. They compared the data obtained from this with data on the genetic and social structure of the harems that had been collected over the course of 20 years. One result: if mares from different family groups often move close to each other, there is a good chance that they will join the same harem in the future.

The researchers write that the method can be used to reconstruct and predict group dynamics. Other animal species also live in similar nested communities: primates, elephants or whales, for example, but also humans.

The Przewalski horse is native to Central Asia. They were sometimes thought to be nearly extinct. Today, through breeding, the stock once again includes about 2400 specimens in zoos and breeding stations around the world. Przewalski’s are about the size of ponies (about 1.40 meters). They can live in freezing cold, but also in extreme heat. (SDA)

Source: Blick