An endangered wild horse foal, critically ill and rejected by his mother, has found an unlikely saviour in a domestic pony, in a rare interspecies adoption at the Minnesota Zoo. Marat, a Przewalski’s horse, faced a grim future until Alice, a Pony of the Americas, stepped in as his surrogate mother, offering a lifeline to a species teetering on the brink of extinction.
Born nearly two months ago, Marat, whose name means "one who is brave," suffered from limb problems that hindered his ability to stand straight. This led to him spending too much time on the ground, resulting in a severe bacterial sepsis, pneumonia, and wounds. Despite intensive care at the University of Minnesota’s equine unit, his biological mother, Nady, a first-time parent, refused to accept him back into the herd.
"That left us with, ‘What are we going to do with this foal?’" said Dr. Annie Rivas, the zoo's director of animal health, explaining that hand-rearing was deemed unsuitable for a wild horse. The solution arrived in Alice, a gentle mare who had recently lost her own newborn. This unique surrogacy is believed to be one of the first of its kind for wild Asian horses. Przewalski’s horses are the only truly wild horse species remaining, declared extinct in the wild in the 1960s before being re-established in Mongolia, China, and parts of Russia and Ukraine. With fewer than 2,000 individuals globally, each foal is vital. Dr. Randy Kochevar, the zoo’s chief animal care officer, noted their distinct behaviour: "Being one of the true wild horses left in the world, behaviorally, they are a little bit different."
Marat’s recovery was swift once Alice entered the picture. "It was really kind of a perfect fairy-tale ending. ... They just bonded like that," Dr. Rivas recounted. Alice immediately began nurturing Marat, allowing him to nurse and providing the crucial maternal care he desperately needed.
The next challenge involves integrating Marat into the complex social hierarchies of the zoo’s adult Przewalski’s herd. Alice is currently helping him learn appropriate horse behaviour, and they are expected to remain together for several more months before Marat transitions. Despite his tender age, Marat is already asserting his wild nature. "He is definitely a wild horse," Dr. Rivas observed. "One, he is a stallion, so he’s already got a big personality from that. But he is also a little more wild than you would expect a domestic horse foal to be at this point in his life. And he is trying to show me that he’s the boss, he’s in charge, he’s dominant. So he’s trying to step up, kick, assert his dominance over me."
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Karnowski reported from Minneapolis.
