Resumen de Endangered Wild Equids.
The article discusses the threats to populations of wild zebra, asses and horses. Today only seven species of wild equids remain--three asses, three zebra and one wild horse--and IUCN-The World! Conservation Union now lists most of these as endangered. Wildlife biologists, including the Equid Specialist Group of the IUCN, study the dwindling populations to learn as much as possible about these historically important animals while they still roam free. We also search for ways to stem their disappearance and have recently developed a plan that prioritizes the actions that should be taken. All wild equids tend to have their first offspring only after reaching four or five years of age; subsequently, they then reproduce only every other year. Although they have the biological potential to produce a foal every year, they seldom do so in the wild, where the struggle to find food and water restricts reproduction. But the strategy fails the animals when conditions lead to high death rates--such as those that hunters currently levy on equids in their pursuit of food, medicine and the commercial sale of hides. A seventh species--Przewalski's horse, or takhi--is extinct in the wild, but programs are well under way to reintroduce these animals, which have been preserved in zoos and parks, to their native habitat in Mongolia. INSETS: Overview/Equid Conservation;The Return of the Takhi.
