Habitat use differs in released and wild-born Przewalski´s horses of the great Gobi B strictly protected area (Mongolia)

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Abstract
The Przewalski´s horse (Extinct in the Wild in 1996) is currently listed as Endangered. The first individuals were reintroduced to the Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area (GGBSPA) in Mongolia in 1997. We observed selected horse groups in the GGBSPA during two seasons in one year (2019) and used ecological niche models to (1) model habitat selection for feeding and resting with generalised linear mixed models; (2) identify the influence of origin (Wild-born vs. Reintroduced); and (3) discuss the potential influence of human presence on the habitat used by the horses for these behaviours. We used three types of satellite-derived predictors: (i) topography (ALOS); (ii) vegetation indexes (Landsat); and (iii) land cover (Copernicus). We assessed the spatial similarity between Reintroduced vs. Wild-born models using pairwise comparisons of the two response variables (feeding and resting). We found significant differences and an apparent shift between the areas preferred for feeding and resting by Wild-born and Reintroduced horses, both over the selected periods and between the groups of different origins. For Wild-born horses, the probability of feeding increased with increasing vegetation quality, while Reintroduced horses tended to feed in worse areas in Late Spring. Surprisingly, an opposite trend was observed in Autumn. On the contrary, no clear pattern emerged from the full model that combined both seasons. Our research provides valuable insights that can inform the refinement of conservation practices, offering practical approaches for enhanced management of the species. We propose that habitat suitability, anthropogenic pressure, and reintroduced group size should be considered key factors for the successful reintroduction of Przewalski´s horses. Additionally, our results caution against simple sample-size maximisation and show that stratified, well-defined datasets might prevent dilution of key drivers in habitat-use models for reintroduced ungulates.
Funding Information
  • Česká Zemědělská Univerzita v Praze

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