Rare Wild Horses to Go Back Natural HabitatSome 28 wild horses of rare species will be sent back to their original habitat on Maika Lali Nature Reserve in Northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, said an official working with the reserve.Cao, an official of the Wild Horse Reproduction Center, told China Daily that these horses bred in the center are now ready to go back to their wild life after they have undergone a training period for adaptation to the natural environment. Instead of being fed regularly and living in cramped enclosures, the 28 horses are now living in a much bigger field with water resources, wild grass and natural hiding places. Their conditions is monitored around the clock by the staff at the center. According to Cao, the long-term confinement of the horses has damaged their capacity for survival in the wild while reducing their speed and sense of direction. The human control of mating and reproduction interferes with natural law of competition for carrying on of the genes, which is essential to enhance the superior genes of such a species. Cao admitted that the death of the first horse born in the center was partly attributed to the poor rearing method. The wild horses living in Xinjiang are the only species of its kind in the world and recognized as the only living organism containing 6 million-year-old genes. Less than 1,000 of the wild horses in zoos and horse-raising grounds around the world are descendants of the wild horses found in Junggar Basin and the southwest border of Mongolia at the end of last century. Subject to relentless poaching since then, they became extinct from their original habitat at the beginning of this century. The few living were sold to Europe and America. A program of bringing the wild horse to their home was launched in 1985. Within the next few years, 18 horses from Germany and Britain were adopted by the center. The center now has 103 wild horses of all ages. |
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