A tale of two horses

One rules Mongolia's frozen steppe. The other is still fighting to survive.

A nomadic herder who spotted our car and came to investigate. Out here on the open steppe, you can be seen from miles away – which often leads to curious and friendly visitors stopping by to say hello.

The first thing you notice driving across Mongolia's eastern steppe is the horses. They're everywhere – grazing in small herds, their winter coats and heavy eyelashes thick against the brutal cold. These aren't your typical domesticated horses. There's no barn to return to at night, no hay being trucked in. Even in temperatures that have my camera shutting down in protest, they're out here surviving just as their ancestors did thousands of years ago.

Mongolia's horses occupy a unique space between wild and tame. While they technically belong to local families, they live semi-feral lives, roaming freely across the steppe in herds of 15-50 animals led by a dominant stallion. They dig through snow for forage, defend themselves against wolves, and generally manage their own affairs with minimal human intervention.

But there's another horse out here too – or at least, there used to be. The Przewalski's horse (pronounced "sheh-VAL-skee" and known locally as "takhi") is the world's last truly wild horse species. Unlike their semi-feral cousins, they were never domesticated. By 1969, hunting and habitat loss had driven them extinct in the wild.

The takhi's survival story is remarkable. All living Przewalski's horses descend from just 12 wild-caught ancestors and four domestic horses, creating what scientists call a genetic bottleneck. That's a bit like trying to rebuild humanity with just 16 people – you'd really want to make sure those folks weren't closely related.

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