The oldest wild horse, officially extinct in the 1970s, was successfully reintroduced 40 years later in Mongolia, its country of origin, thanks in particular to the work of a French association, Takh, based in the south of France, on the Causse Méjean .
It is a steppe landscape. Scarce shrubs emerge from the grass that has been yellowed by a sunny, hot and dry summer. We are not in Mongolia, but on the Causse Méjean, in the French Cevennes, in the south of the Massif Central, where the oldest wild horses on the planet live, Przewalski’s horses, a species that became extinct a year ago in the Mongolian steppes. ” It’s a bit random to come across them here », warns Pauline Jouhanno, from the Takh Association (takh, in Mongolian, means wild horse), which was created in 1990 for the conservation and rebirth of the Przewalski horse. And we can say that we are happy, on this August morning.
In front of us, about ten meters away, are two peaceful horses, with a size close to a pony, beige coat, striped bottom of the legs: two Przewalski horses introduced to us by Julie Morisson, scientific mediator within the Takh -association. ” Guizmo and Rouquet, two single stallions that are just on the other side of the fence, in a resting position, go head to tail so that one’s tail chases the flies out of the other’s eyes. You don’t feel a difference here that wasn’t there earlier when we walked ? It’s windy ! There are no trees, so when it is very hot, Przewalski’s horse will seek the breeze. »
Cévennes steppes
In the middle of summer it is hot on the Causse Méjean, this high hill plateau in the department of Lozère, at an altitude of 800 meters. Hot in summer and cold in winter, like in Mongolia, the country of origin of Przewalski’s horse. Here are 40 horses living in semi-freedom, in two camps of 400 hectares in total, without contact with people, in a landscape similar to the steppes of Mongolia – we are in the Cévennes steppes. ” It’s very bare, very baredescribes Pauline Jouhanno. We have what we call limestone lawns. The calcareous soil does not allow water to remain on the surface, everything flows away, which means that the vegetation is very short, very dry. »
The first Przewalski horses (the species owes its Western name to a Russian colonel of Polish origin who “discovered” it at the end of the 19th century) arrived on the Causse in 1993. From zoos, because in nature the wild horse has completely disappeared – a last individual was seen in 1969 in the Gobi desert. ” When Europeans in the early years took Przewalski’s foals from the wild to put them in zoos 1900, the strategy at the time was to kill all the adults accompanying the foals, says Julie Morrison. Obviously, this is a species that knows how to defend itself very well. Faced with stress, it organizes itself socially to face predators. »
Unite against predators
But since we are not a predator, can we pet this wild horse? ” No, not at all ! Socially, they will organize themselves so powerfully that even if you don’t know the behavior of horses, you will suspect that you should stop approaching. ! », smiles Julie Morisson, who took out binoculars to observe other horses in the distance, before returning behind the hill.
In 2004, the Takh Association sent about twenty of its horses to Mongolia. A successful relaunch program. ” It is quite reassuring to see that these horses in Mongolia manage to reproduce, survive and defend themselves against wolf attacks. We had four proven attacks of wolf predation on foals in just twenty years, so this is quite promising. » Several hundred Przewalski horses live in Mongolia today, thanks to the Takh Association and other reintroduction programs. Officially declared “extinct in the wild” in the 1970s, the Przewalski’s horse is today only an “endangered” species. A resurrected species.