Rare horse buff鈥檚 stable life story
Print Edition
To some, they are nothing more than stocky and furry creatures, a rarely seen animal species.
To 48-year-old Zhang Yanbao, however, they are his dearest friends and the 鈥減rotagonists鈥 of his 33-year career.
The star of Zhang鈥檚 life story is the Przewalski鈥檚 horse, believed to be the only wild horse species in existence today.
鈥淟ike us, each of the horses has its own temperament and personality, as well as a specific role in the family,鈥 said Zhang, an engineer at the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding and Research Center.
Once extinct in China due to excessive poaching and environmental degradation, the horses were reintroduced from Britain, Germany and the United States starting in 1986, and raised in northwest China鈥檚 Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Gansu Province.
The species, listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, is under first-class national protection.
The Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding and Research Center was established in 1986 as a base to save the species from extinction. Generations of Chinese researchers like Zhang have made a life for themselves in the wilderness to take care of the animal.
Zhang鈥檚 affection for the horse traces back to a magazine in his teenage years.
鈥淥ne day I read a story about the horses in a magazine and was captivated. Since there were no illustrations of the species, I imagined what they might look like and was eager to see them in person,鈥 he recalled.
Upon graduation from junior high school in 1988, he came to the center and took up a job as a horse breeder. 鈥淚 marveled at their beauty at first sight. But to be honest, at first, they all looked the same to me.鈥
To get the hang of caring for the horses and quickly identify them, he kept a journal during his shifts and spent most of his time observing the horses after work. 鈥淭he stallions look more imposing, while the mares are tamer. They can also be distinguished by their different birthmarks and fur color.鈥
Zhang soon mastered the temperament and family role of each horse.
鈥淭he first German stallion that was introduced from Europe was renowned for his 鈥榪uick temper鈥 and did not like humans being too close. So we often worked in pairs when adding forage for him. One of us would push a trolley as a form of protection, while the other went to work,鈥 he said.
In 2001, the center began releasing Przewalski鈥檚 horses into the Kalamaili Nature Reserve in Xinjiang鈥檚 Junggar Basin, one of the original habitats of the species.
To monitor the first batch of 27 released horses, Zhang was among the first that volunteered at the station in the uninhabited reserve.
There was no electricity in the wild and the closest water supply was dozens of kilometers away, a journey they made once a week. On rainy days, the vast Gobi Desert turned to sludge, and their jeep sometimes got stuck in the mud.
In 2008, Zhang moved back to the center. He is in charge of wild survival training for the horses to prepare the animals for a smooth and speedy transition to life in the wild.
There are more than 2,000 Przewalski鈥檚 horses in the world, with 477 in Xinjiang.
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