SALT LAKE CITY — By all rights, the Przewalski’s horse (sometimes known as the Mongolian Horse) should have gone extinct a long time ago. A study from the National Library of Medicine said there were as few as 12 Przewalski’s horses following World War II.
They were considered extinct in the wild for nearly three decades, but were pulled back by intense conservation efforts done, in part, by the Associate Director of Animal Care at Utah’s Hogle Zoo, Melissa Dacumos.
Dacumos has an extremely impressive record when it comes to the preservation of Equidae, a branch of the horse family. It includes zebras, tapirs, and, of course, Przewalski’s Horse.
In collaboration with the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, as well as the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Dacumos has worked to bring these animals back to the wild. Their challenges haven’t been typical for horse breeding…