I returned to the Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area with Ganbaatar, who had been the Director here for more than two decades, for the first time since the autumn 2022. I was interested in how the local population of Przewalski’s horses, which we had made a huge effort to strengthen with individuals from European breeding over the past decade, was doing. The harsh winter at the beginning of 2023 unfortunately lead to the decrease in the number of Przewalski’s horses here from over four hundred to less than three hundred—even probably only to 265; and since then, their number has remained at about the same. At the beginning of this spring, there were 271 of them in Gobi B. It is related not only to unfavourable winters in recent years, but also to predation of the foals by wolves and perhaps also to extensive rearrangements of harems, when the new stallions could kill the foals sired by their predecessors. This certainly does not mean that the situation is critical, however, every horse counts. They have always counted here.

When the stallion and his harem finally disappeared from our sight, Ganbaatar pointed out to me that it was Noyon (Wealthy Man in Mongolian). It didn’t ring a bell for me, so after returning to the camp, I asked Ganbaatar to remind me of his story.

Ganbaatar found the abandoned one-month-old Noyon near the Bij River on June 22, 2014. He immediately understood what had happened. Noyon’s mother Khatan separated from her herd four days earlier and became a part of the stallion Erkhes’ harem; she had joined the mares that we transported to Gobi in 2012. As a result of this change Noyon was left abandoned. But every Przewalski’s horse counts, therefore Ganbaatar decided to save Noyon. He transported him to Takhiin tal and placed him in an empty acclimatization enclosure. Then, with the help of rangers on motorbikes he ran the Erkhes’ harem, which was still quite tame at that time, including Noyon’s mother Khatan, into the same enclosure. Then he drove Erkhes and his mares out again—except Khatan. He left her in the enclosure with little Noyon. Later he let the mares, those which we had brought in the previous year, in 2013, join them from the neighbouring acclimatization enclosure. At that time Ekhes’ brother Mogoi, who broke in the acclimatization enclosure and formed his own harem, was also with them. After the two enclosures were connected, Khatan with Noyon also became part of his harem.

At that time, we only heard about all this in Prague in fragments, and I admit that due to the preparations for the 2014 transport, all of Ganbaatar’s heroic efforts remained on the fringes of my interest. However, when we flew to Mongolia with other mares in early July of that year, we witnessed the release of Mogoi and his harem into the wild. That was the first time I saw Noyon, who was not even six weeks old—and the last time for long.

But time flies fast. Since the autumn of 2020, Noyon has had his own harem, which he is still expanding. Last Saturday, when we met again after almost eleven years, there were eight mares with him—among them Xara, imported from Prague—, one yearling and two of this year’s foals. The breathtaking experience of this meeting was further enhanced for me by the hope that Noyon would have many offsprings. After all, his name—Man of Wealth—seems to predestine him to do so.

Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo