The ‘marriage’ problem of endangered Przewalski's horses awaits solution

濒危普氏马匹的“婚姻”问题有待解决

Video: GTAfter the gate opens, the 43 mare "beauties" of "marriageable" age did not rush into the green semi-wild area, but rather squeezed together into a large group next to the steel pipe fence of the wild horse training grounds as they were still indulging in their entanglement with stallion Jungar No.226, leader of a breeding herd that was about to be released into the wild.

视频：大门打开后，43匹“适婚”年龄的母马“美女”并没有冲进绿油油的半野区，而是在野马训练场的钢管围栏旁挤成一大群，还在沉迷于与即将放归野外的种马头目准噶尔226号种马的纠缠中。

For days, these young "princesses" had been fighting over more than a dozen "princes" who were about to return to nature. Compared with the tasty food and the wider world outside the big fence, love has the far stronger pull, making them even more inseparable.

连日来，这些年轻的“公主”们为了十几个即将回归自然的“王子”争得不可开交。比起美食和大篱笆外更广阔的世界，爱情的拉力要强得多，让他们更形影不离。

This kind of "polygamous" horse is an endangered species - Przewalski's horse. With an evolutionary history of more than 60 million years, it is believed to be the only truly wild horse species in existence today.

这种“一夫多妻制”的马就是濒危物种--普氏马。有着6000多万年的进化史，被认为是当今现存的唯一真正意义上的野马物种。

It is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species and is under first-class national protection in China.

被国际自然保护联盟《濒危物种红色名录》列为濒危物种，在我国属于国家一级保护。

Przewalski's twin horses Photo: Courtesy of Zhang HefanA long and loving companionship

普氏双胞胎马图片：张赫法娜提供的长而有爱的陪伴

Przewalski's horses are even rarer than giant pandas as approximately only 2,000 survive in the world.

普氏马匹甚至比大熊猫还稀少，因为全世界大约只有2000匹存活下来。

Once extinct in China due to excessive poaching and environmental degradation, China started reintroducing Przewalski's horses from the UK, the US and Germany in 1985, mainly raising the precious creatures in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

由于过度偷猎和环境恶化，普氏马一度在中国灭绝。1985年，中国开始从英国，美国和德国重新引进普氏马，主要在中国西北部的新疆维吾尔自治区饲养这种珍贵的动物。

On August 28, 2001, China successfully returned the first group of Przewalski's horses to the Kalamaili Ungulate Nature Reserve in Xinjiang. Zhang Hefan, a senior engineer who has been working at the Przewalski's horse breeding center in Xinjiang since 1995, told the Global Times that a total of 18 Przewalski's horses were sent to the Kalamaili reserve in September.

2001年8月28日，中国成功地将第一批普氏马匹送回新疆卡拉麦里有蹄类自然保护区。自1995年以来一直在新疆普氏马匹繁育中心工作的高级工程师张和凡告诉《环球时报》记者，9月份共有18匹普氏马匹被送到了卡拉麦里保护区。

These horses will be officially released into the wild after they adapt to the environment at the wildlife release site of the Kalamaili Ungulate Nature Reserve.

这些马在卡拉麦里有蹄类自然保护区野生动物放归点适应环境后，将被正式放归野外。

Having worked to conserve Przewalski's horses for over 25 years, Zhang said she treats the animals as her own children. She has continued tracking, observing and recording the stories of Przewalski's horses and their protectors through photography, videos and writing.

张女士已经为保护普氏马匹工作了25年，她说她把这些马匹当作自己的孩子一样对待。她通过摄影，录像和写作等方式，持续追踪，观察和记录普氏马匹及其保护者的故事。

"There are so many touching and interesting stories about these adorable wild horses," Zhang said, going on to recall a recent exciting experience in which she witnessed the birth of twin Przewalski's horses, which she is convinced are the first recorded Przewalski's twin horses in the world.

“这些可爱的野马有太多感人和有趣的故事，”张说，她接着回忆起最近一次令人兴奋的经历，她亲眼目睹了一对普氏双胞胎马的诞生，她确信这是世界上第一对有记录的普氏双胞胎马。

"It is rare to have two foals, as Przewalski's horses usually only produce one foal per birth," said Zhang, adding that it was very interesting since her colleague also has a cute pair of pigeons who have accompanied the twin horses as they've grown.

张说：“有两只小马驹是很少见的，因为普氏马匹通常一胎只产一只小马驹。”她还补充说，这很有趣，因为她的同事也有一对可爱的鸽子陪伴着这对双胞胎马长大。

Przewalski's horses Photo: Courtesy of Zhang Hefan

普氏马匹图片：张和凡提供

Increasing number

不断增加的数量

According to Zhang, three of the 43 mares were lucky enough to be selected for release into the wild in Kalamaili in 2021, the 20th anniversary of the release project in Xinjiang. Before their departure, they have undertaken a month-long "boxing" training.

据张介绍，43匹母马中有3匹有幸在2021年新疆放生工程20周年之际被选中放归卡拉麦里野外。出发前，他们已承担了为期一个月的“拳击”训练。

The research center began "boxing" training for the wild horses in August 2020. The training involves guiding the horses to enter boxes by luring them with forage grass and reducing their fear of the horse box, which will be used to transport them back to the wild.

研究中心于2020年8月开始对这些野马进行“拳击”训练。训练包括通过用牧草引诱马匹进入箱子，减少它们对马箱的恐惧来引导马匹进入箱子，马箱将被用来将它们运回野外。

"We put radio collars on the wild horses to track them, so we can further understand the wild horses' life and migration patterns and to prepare for their expansion in the future," Yang Jianming, director of the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding and Research Center, told the Global Times.

新疆野马繁育研究中心主任杨建明在接受《环球时报》采访时说：“我们给野马戴上无线电项圈来跟踪它们，这样我们就可以进一步了解野马的生活和迁徙模式，为它们未来的扩张做准备。”

He added that after more than 30 years of hard work, the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding and Research Center has successfully bred over 800 wild horses across six generations, making it the largest breeding base for Przewalski's horses in the world.

他补充说，经过30多年的努力，新疆野马繁育研究中心已成功繁育出跨六代800多匹野马，成为世界上最大的普氏马繁育基地。

By 2020, the number of Przewalski's horses in Xinjiang had grown to 484, including 274 horses in the wild, 113 horses in semi-captivity and 97 horses in captivity, according to the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding and Research Center. The Kalamaili reserve had 274, 10 times the number in 2001.

据新疆野马繁育研究中心介绍，到2020年，新疆普氏马已发展到484匹，其中野外274匹，半圈养113匹，圈养97匹。卡拉麦里保护区有274个，是2001年的10倍。

According to Yang, the number of Przewalski's horses needs to reach about 2,500 to form a stable population in the wild. Through more than 30 years of development, the "Wild Horse Returning Home" Project has accumulated a lot of experience when it comes to releasing the animals and has provided a good reference and model for the reintroduction of other species in China.

据杨介绍，普氏马的数量需要达到2500匹左右，才能在野外形成稳定的种群。通过30多年的发展，“野马回家”项目在放归方面积累了不少经验，为国内其他物种的重新引进提供了很好的借鉴和范本。

Przewalski's horses Photo: Courtesy of Zhang Hefan

普氏马匹图片：张和凡提供

Inbreeding issues

近亲繁殖问题

According to Yang, the selection of this batch of wild horses mainly considered the horses' pedigree relationships, age structures, sex ratio and health status.

据杨介绍，这批野马的选择主要考虑了马的系谱关系，年龄结构，性别比例和健康状况。

The 18 wild horses are more distantly related to the wild horses that have been released into the wild, which helps to reduce problems related to inbreeding in the horse herd.

这18匹野马与已放归野外的野马有更远的亲缘关系，这有助于减少马群中与近亲繁殖有关的问题。

But he noted that avoiding inbreeding has become quite challenging as introducing foreign genes into the species is temporarily impossible due to the global pandemic.

但他指出，避免近亲繁殖已变得相当具有挑战性，因为由于全球大流行，暂时不可能将外源基因引入该物种。

The center has sought international cooperation with many countries and organizations.

该中心寻求与许多国家和组织开展国际合作。

"We planned to invite some US experts to help artificially inseminate the wild horses in China, but COVID-19 has put roadblocks for this work," said Yang.

“我们计划邀请一些美国专家来帮助中国的野马人工授精，但是COVID-19给这项工作设置了障碍，”杨说。

Currently, the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding and Research Center is actively looking for suitable domestic wild horse sources from Northwest China's Gansu Province and other places to solve the problem through provincial exchanges.

目前，新疆野马繁育研究中心正积极从中国西北的甘肃省等地寻找合适的国内野马来源，通过省级交流解决问题。

"We are also negotiating with a company based in Beijing about a project to clone Przewalski's horses," said Yang.

杨说：“我们也在与北京的一家公司就克隆普氏马匹的项目进行谈判。”

"If attempts were successful, the marriage problem of the 'leftover' wild horses could be solved," said Zhang.

“如果尝试成功，‘剩’野马的婚姻问题就可以解决了，”张说。