The Przewalski’s horse is the only horse species that has never been domesticated, and it also managed to narrowly escape a brush with extinction.
By 1969, agriculture, hunting and a string of severe winters had caused the species to disappear from its last range in Mongolia. Some horses survived in captivity, but in the 1960s, they were being inbred to the point of no return. The horse was saved, however, by a captive breeding program in zoos and by conservationists who reintroduced it back to Mongolia in the 1990s. Today, more than 760 Przewalski’s horses roam Mongolia.
As the horse’s story exemplifies, extinctions are not inevitable. Since 1993, conservation efforts have saved up to 48 mammal and bird species from extinction, a new study published last week in Conservation Letters says. Without such efforts, extinction rates for mammals and birds over the past 27 years would be three to four times as high.
In general, wildlife is disappearing rather than rebounding. From 1970 to 2016, populations of nearly 4,400 species declined by an average of 68%, according to a report also published last week by the World Wildlife Fund. A study published in June found that mass extinctions are accelerating and that 500 species are likely to become extinct over the next 20 years.
“It’s nice to have these positive stories to show that, actually, we can make a difference,” said Rike Bolam, a postdoctoral researcher in biodiversity policy at Newcastle University in England, who led the study on Przewalski’s horses. “There is so much negative press about biodiversity loss, but the knowledge that we can turn things around, even if it’s just for a small number of species, is quite powerful.”
Many species, however, are still critically endangered. At last count, for example, only six vaquita — the world’s smallest porpoise, which are killed as bycatch in illegal fishing in Mexico that is driven by demand in China — still exist.
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