The Przewalski horses of Babenhausen

What is the Przewalski horse for a race and how does it look?

The Przewalski horse named Thaki, Asian wild horse and Mongolian wild horse too and it is the only wild horse type, which has survived in its wild form until today. They have a high from 134 to 146 centimeter and weigh 240 to 300 Kilogram. The fur color from the horses is grey- yellow and isabell colored some of them are red-brown. The can will be 20 to 30 years old. The horse was named by the Russian expedition traveler Nikolai Michailowitsch Prschewalski who found the. The last free wild horse was seen 1969.

The horses of Babenhausen. Picture used by kind permission. Copyrights: Michael Hock

The Przewalski horses in Babenhausen

On 17.06.2014 the Przewalski horses came to our place. Walli, Wera, Wilma, Wendy and Wanda arrived at the FFH area (Flora-Fauna-Habitat area) behind the barracks of Babenhausen. The horses have taken over the landscape maintenance in Babenhausen. They maintain and care for the FFH area with its sand meager grassland. Their treading and rolling creates open sandy areas, which are vital for many threatened creatures. In Hesse there were other cities which took these animals. Hanau, for example, took in 7 horses, Babenhausen 5 and in Giessen 16 horses were taken in. Even shortly behind the border of Hessen in Aschaffenburg 10 horses were taken in. Meanwhile the five horse ladies have settled in well in Babenhausen and enrich the place around. The five horses come from Switzerland, were born in 2013 and form a permanent group. It is intentional that their name begins with "W". All animals of this birth year have names with the same initial letter.

The 65 hectare area was already secured in 2007 as a "Natura 2000 area". Before, the area belonged to a large American barrack in Frankfurt and was used for military exercises. Before the horses were there, tank tracks kept the area open and ensured the preservation of the sand-lean grass.

The horses are not fed like in zoos, they have to feed themselves. The reason for this is that they are later released into the wild and then have to survive without human help.

There are currently no guided tours of the FFH site.

How did the Przewalskis survive until today?

There are currently 183 of these horses in Germany, spread over 26 locations. The Przewalski horses have been preserved until today, as some owners with large grounds and zoos continued to breed this species in captivity. Shortly after the end of World War II, however, less than 40 animals of this wild horse species were kept in human captivity. The Przewalski horses are the last wild horses and make the conservation breeding program a special one. When it became clear in the early 1970s that there was not a single Przewalski horse left in nature, it was some people who were committed to save the wild horse. For several years there have been special breeding programmes for the Przewalski horse which have been committed to the preservation of the horses. Due to the European Conservation Breeding Programme (EEP), the number of horses has risen to around 2,200. The horses are released into the wild in Kazakhstan, Mongolia or China. They are prepared in advance. The horses from Hanau were recently reintroduced to Mongolia.