Przewalski's horses live in small family clans consisting of one adult stallion, one to three mares and their offspring; young males who have not been able to form a harem group together and follow certain rules imposed by their hierarchy: the dominant male will be the first to access the watering hole or highly nutritious grass.

From an early age, horses learn to respect this hierarchy through games that simulate fighting (kicking, biting, chasing, etc.). Although they are herd animals, horses maintain a certain distance between themselves: crossing this space is perceived as an aggression and can lead to more or less violent confrontations. Nevertheless, the group always remains in contact, as straying too far from each other can put horses at risk from potential predators.

Przewalski's horse can be recognised by its small size, its dun coat, a dorsal stripe, a fairly large head, a thick neck and a short, upright mane, with no forelock between the ears!

It has 66 chromosomes, whereas domestic horses have 64. !

Man has never succeeded in domesticating this fiery-tempered equine.

This horse was thought to be extinct until it was 'rediscovered' by a Russian explorer, Colonel Przewalski, in 1879. Competition with domestic species and hunting led to its extinction in the wild in the late 1960s. At the beginning of the 20th century, after an epic capture in their natural habitat, a few dozen horses arrived in zoos. Three of them came to the menagerie, one in 1902 and two in 1906. Despite the demographic collapse suffered by Przewalski's horses in the wild and the inbreeding of the current population, their genome retains a surprising diversity.

Thanks to the implementation of international breeding programmes, there are now more than 1,500 horses in zoos and numerous reserves. Since the early 1990s, reintroductions at several sites have enabled more than 300 horses to roam the Mongolian steppes once again. Numerous semi-wild breeding programmes, particularly in Lozère and Hungary, are preparing groups for the conditions they will face in their natural habitat. Two of the Museum's establishments, the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes (Paris) and Réserve zoologique de la Haute-Touche, are actively involved in the protection of this endangered species.

After being declared extinct in the wild in 1996, it was reclassified as Critically Endangered in 2008 and then only Endangered in 2011 after being successfully reintroduced.

The threats to this species include competition with livestock, habitat degradation and hybridisation with domestic horses.