The National Zoo currently manages the Species Survival Plan for the entire captive North American population of Przewalski’s horses. It also participates in the Species Survival Plans for Persian onagers and Grevy's zebra. A Species Survival Plan is a cooperative breeding program for threatened and endangered species among accredited zoos in North America.
For more than two decades, scientists at the Zoo have been working with Przewalski’s horses. They were considered extinct in the wild until 2008, when the World Conservation Union reclassified them as critically endangered. Scientists at the Zoo are working to increase the genetic diversity of Przewalski's horses. More
With fewer than 70 Persian onagers left in zoos in North America, scientists are urgently studying methods to increase their fertility and birth rates. More
Through reintroduction projects in Mongolia, nearly 300 horses now roam freely in the wild. However the horse is still absent from much of its former geographic range which spanned regions in Mongolia, China, Russia, and Kazakhstan. More