The wild horses will be set free by degrees, first from a small enclosure to a larger enclosure, and eventually will be left completely wild to help them adapt to their natural environment more easily.

Second batch to be released

Chinese scientists will return another 18 endangered wild horses, raised in captivity, to the wild this year, disclosed sources with the forestry administration of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China.

This will be the second batch of Xinjiang wild horses, or Przewalski's horses, to be sent back to their original habitat. The first group of 27 horses were released on August 28 last year.

Zhe Fude, director of the forestry administration's Wildlife and Plant Conservation Office, said that the second batch of Xinjiang wild horses will be released in spring, so the horses will have enough time to get used to the wild and learn how to survive harsh natural conditions, especially the severe winter.

Struggle to survive harsh natural conditions

To date, two colts from the first batch have died from cold and starvation in the Kala Maili Nature Reserve in northern Xinjiang, where they were set free last year. One mare from the group is missing, according to staff monitoring the project.

A cold front pounding the northern part of the region has sent local temperatures plummeting to minus 40 degrees Celsius.

Cao Jie, head of the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding and Research Center, said that although the first batch of wild horses have on the whole become accustomed to the natural conditions, low temperatures and bitter cold have severely affected their activities and their search for food and water.

Experts say the fact that most of the first batch of wild horses have survived despite very low temperatures shows the ability of the wild horse to live in its natural habitat is improving.

To help wild horses survive the severe winter, staff at the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding and Research Center have fenced the surviving 24 wild horses set free last year. The horses will stay in the 4-square kilometer enclosure until they are strong enough to return to the wild.

Rarer than giant panda

Xinjiang was the original habitat of the Xinjiang wild horse 60million years ago. The wild horse is even rarer than the giant panda, as there are fewer than 1,000 in the world. Most live in zoos in Germany, Britain, the United States, the Netherlands and China. There are 200 wild horses in China at the most.

The wild horse disappeared from its original habitat in the early 20th century as a result of relentless poaching by overseas explorers. The wild horses in zoos and private hands around the world are descendants of the wild horses caught by Russian explorer Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky in Xinjiang and shipped to Europe in 1876.

With the assistance of the International Rare Animal Protection Association, China imported 18 wild horses from the United States and Europe in 1986 and set up a wild horse reproduction center in Xinjiang the same year. The center has developed into the largest of its kind in Asia and has 117 horses. The survival rate of the wild horses has risen from 25 to 89 percent.

Adapt to the nature under human help

To help the wild horses adapt to their natural environment more easily, Zhu the director said, the 18 wild horses to be released this year will be separated into two small groups so that the lead horses can take care of all its group members in the wild.

The horses will be set free by degrees. First from a small enclosure to a larger enclosure, and eventually will be left to be completely wild, the director added.

China has more than 500 species of animals on the verge of extinction. To provide an ideal environment for these rare creatures, it has built 1,276 nature reserves covering a total area of 123 million hectares and set up 14 wildlife reproduction centers.

As a result, the decline in numbers of some rare species such as giant panda has been effectively curbed.

(People?s Daily January 9, 2002)