[ A horse is a horse, or a takh ]

A horse is a horse, or a takh

WU professor studies rare horses in Mongolia

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Washburn University professor Lee Boyd sits near a group of takhi, also known as Przewalski's horses, in Mongolia. The takhi had vanished in the wild in 1969 but have been reintroduced and appear to be thriving, she said.

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A takh walks on a Mongolian plain. Wild takhi spend less time eating than captive ones, according to a Washburn professor.

By Michael C. Campbell

Special to The Capital-Journal

The now-vanished herds of wild horses that once thundered across the grasslands are on their way back, according to research recently published by Washburn University professor Lee Boyd.

But don't plan on packing up the minivan to go see them. These horses are in Mongolia.

Boyd studied horses called takhi (plural of takh) by Mongolians and Przewalski's horse by Westerners. Takhi are closely related to domestic horses and look like stocky brown ponies with short black manes that stand upright like a zebra's, according to Boyd. However, the takhi have never been tamed and are distinct enough to be a separate species.

Takhi used to roam the grassy steppes and parched deserts of Mongolia and northern China. They disappeared from the wild about 1969, a victim of habitat loss and competition with domestic livestock.

A project to restore the takhi began releasing captive-bred animals into the wild in 1994, reintroducing a total of 80 animals over the years. Boyd has monitored the animals since their release.

Her analysis of the released takhi's behavior shows that the horses have adjusted well to life on their own. She published her results late last year in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science.

Boyd did her work by following the takhi around the windswept environs of Hustai National Park in central Mongolia. She says the area's rolling landscape resembles the Flint Hills, but with a few patches of birch forest.

"The setting is quite idyllic, really. There are a number of groups of takhi that are used to being followed by me and other researchers, so you just tag around with them during the day," Boyd said.

Boyd took trips to Mongolia in the summers of 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2001. She used several clues to determine how well the takhi adjusted.

Among the most obvious --- babies. Unhappy takhi don't reproduce, but births have swelled the population in Hustai to 140 individuals.

Boyd and local biologists also did monthly assessments on the takhi's physical condition, looking for things like protruding ribs that might suggest difficulty finding food. Instead, she found herds of pleasantly plump horses prudently laying on fat in preparation for winter.

Finally, she spent long hours every day recording the time the takhi would spend in various activities. She then compared the behavior patterns of released takhi with those of animals held in nearby enclosures.

She found that the released takhi actually spent less time eating than captive animals and more time resting. This lazy lifestyle was a good indicator that the wild takhi were thriving, she said.

Boyd said she thinks the wild takhi spend less time eating because they are free to find the very best grass to graze. She found that the released takhi would travel up to six miles a day looking for high-quality forage.

This ability to roam the landscape is especially important during Mongolia's brutal winters, when temperatures plunge to minus-30 degrees and three feet of snow can cover the grass.

"The loose horses use the land cannily and go to wind-blown areas that are free of snow. They did well, with about 90 percent surviving bad winters. There was more death among those in the enclosures because they couldn't select where to go," Boyd said.

Boyd plans to return to Mongolia in 2004.

Michael C. Campbell is a science writer at The University of Kansas. He can be reached by e-mail at campbell@ittc.ku.edu.

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