Rejected by his mother, a rare wild Asian horse foal finds a new mom

Описание: (30 Jun 2025)

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4587147

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Apple Valley, Minnesota – 26 June 2025
1. Various Przewalski’s horse foal Marat
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Anne Rivas, Minnesota Zoo Director of Animal Health:
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
“Because he was struggling to keep up with mom and the herd, he was spending a lot of time laying down on the ground, and unfortunately developed bacterial sepsis.”
3. Various Marat and Rivas
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Anne Rivas, Minnesota Zoo Director of Animal Health:
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
“His mom was a first-time mom. She wasn't 100% on the motherhood thing and then lost her foal after three days. So she was really nervous when we brought him back and was not able to accept him back.”
5. Various adult Przewalski’s horses in separate enclosure
6. Various Rivas and Marat UPSOUND (English): “He’s a stallion so he’s trying to see if he can intimidate me.”
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Anne Rivas, Minnesota Zoo Director of Animal Health:
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
“Long-term, we started worrying about how was he going to be a Przewalski horse? He needs to really be integrated in the complex social hierarchies of wild horse herd.”
8. Alice the mare greeting Rivas
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Anne Rivas, Minnesota Zoo Director of Animal Health:
“It was really kind of a perfect fairytale ending where she was grieving her foal, but had another foal she was able to step in and take care of and immediately started nurturing, and he had a built-in mom and they just bonded like that.”
10. Alice and Marat nuzzling
11. Various Marat nursing from Alice
12. Marat playing with Rivas
13. Marat looking at camera
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Anne Rivas, Minnesota Zoo Director of Animal Health:
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
“The care staff here at the zoo decided to name Marat Marat because it means one who is brave. They felt that was an appropriate name to capture his really exceptional start to life.”
15. Marat resting with Alice
STORYLINE:
THIS ENDANGERED WILD HORSE FOAL IF GETTING A LEG UP ON LIFE THANKS TO AN UNLIKELY HERO.

MARAT, A PRZEWALSKI’S HORSE, WAS BORN WITH A LIMB DEFORMITY, WHICH MADE IT DIFFICULT TO STAND AND MOVE WITH THE HERD.

SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Anne Rivas, Minnesota Zoo Director of Animal Health:
“Because he was struggling to keep up with mom and the herd, he was spending a lot of time laying down on the ground and unfortunately developed bacterial sepsis.”

MARAT’S CONDITION DETERIORATED–REQUIRING EMERGENCY VETERINARY TREATMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. THE FOAL RECOVERED BUT HOME CAME WITH A NEW CHALLENGE.

SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Anne Rivas, Minnesota Zoo Director of Animal Health:
“His mom was a first-time mom. She wasn't 100% on the motherhood thing and then lost her foal after three days. So she was really nervous when we brought him back and was not able to accept him back.”

PRZEWALSKI'S ARE CONSIDERED THE ONLY REMAINING TRULY WILD HORSE SPECIES. THEY WERE DECLARED EXTINCT IN THE WILD IN THE 1960S. BUT REINTRODUCTION PROGRAMS IN MINNESOTA AND OTHER ZOOS HAVE BOOSTED THAT POPULATION TO 500 ANIMALS ACROSS CHINA, MONGOLIA, RUSSIA AND UKRAINE.

SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Anne Rivas, Minnesota Zoo Director of Animal Health:
“Long-term, we started worrying about how was he going to be a Przewalski horse? He needs to really be integrated in the complex social hierarchies of wild horse herd.”

THAT’S WHERE ALICE, A PONY OF THE AMERICAS WHO’D RECENTLY LOST HER OWN FOAL STEPPED IN.

SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Anne Rivas, Minnesota Zoo Director of Animal Health:







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