- An endangered Przewalski’s horse foal named Marat, critically ill and rejected by his biological mother, found a surrogate parent in Alice, a domestic Pony of the Americas, at the Minnesota Zoo.
- Marat, born with limb problems, developed severe infections and was rejected by his first-time mother, prompting the zoo to seek an alternative to hand-rearing.
- The unique interspecies adoption occurred after Alice, who had recently lost her own newborn, bonded immediately with Marat, providing him with essential maternal care.
- This rare surrogacy is crucial for the Przewalski’s horse species, the only truly wild horse remaining, which was once extinct in the wild and has fewer than 2,000 individuals globally.
- Marat is now recovering well and learning appropriate horse behavior from Alice, with plans for his eventual integration into the zoo’s adult Przewalski’s herd.
IN FULL
Rare wild Asian horse foal finds new foster mother after birth parent rejected him
