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| The Spirit of Mongolia |
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Genghis Khan died in 1227, short of his goal of dominating Asia and Europe. But he and his successors did expand the Mongol Empire substantially, leaving a lasting mark on history. Indeed, modern China and Russia are in large part creations of the ancient empire, which united many warring factions. By the late 1300s, however, internal strife and the rise of new Asian powers led to the empire's disintegration.
Today, Mongolia continues its love affair with the horse. Nearly 40% of its 2.4 million people are still nomadic herders, making a living by selling and milking their herds of horses, goats, and sheep. And while another third of the populace has crowded into the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, horse races remain a national pastime, with thousands of fans mobbing major contests, often held at horse-trading fairs. Nomad children even learn to ride the animals -- which can be ten times their size -- at just two to four years of age.
Ironically, however, Mongolia's once-revered wild horses no longer gallop free, having succumbed to domestication and hunting decades ago. The last truly wild Tahki -- a Mongolian name meaning "spirit" -- was spotted in 1968. That was less than 100 years after a Russian explorer named Nikolai Przewalski publicized his "discovery" of the horse throughout Europe. Although the discovery eventually helped persuade the Mongolian government to formally protect the Tahki in 1926, it also spurred strong demand for the animals among European ranchers eager to have a rare animal on their farms. As a result, many Tahkis were captured, ending up on European farms and in zoos. There are less than 1,500 Takhi alive today, with the vast majority descended from just a dozen animals that were caught in the wild around 1900.
Over the last decade, several groups have spearheaded efforts to restore zoo-reared Tahki to Mongolia. But it's too early to know how restoration efforts will fare. Some biologists fear that inbreeding with domestic horses will ultimately doom the efforts. But many Mongolians are hoping that herds of Tahki will once again gallop across the prairie. Their hoofbeats, some say, is the heartbeat of their proud nation.
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