The return of Mongolia's "wild" horses - Nigel Rothfels 

Nice to see that Ted is making so much effort for animating and collecting information just for informing the public, and doing it all for free. Appreciate your efforts, Ted Team.

The video mentions the key problem already. The animal species we protect and breed in Zoos are not necessary the most important ones. They are the most charismatic. Generally, the rule of thumb is that a population needs 50 different individuals to avoid inbreeding and 500 individuals to avoid genetic drift (extinction of different traits in a population). The Przewalski's horse had a population of 11 animals, when they started breeding them. The alpine Ibex in the alps had a similar story with under 100 individuals, when they started breeding it for reintroduction. There are estimated that Zoos could preserve ~ 900 vertebrate species if they keep 100 to 150 Individuals per species, or 200-300 species if they keep 500 individuals. Too few individuals will lead to inbreeding in the wild and has the risk of being unstable in the wild, depending on the habitat. However, there a many animal species that are crucial to their respective habitats and need more attention, for example insects, reptiles and amphibians. These tend to get overlooked by the public, which results in lesser effort to preserve them. Protecting habitats is more difficult, but has the benefit of preserving ALL the organism, including the plants and microorganisms we may not even know of and not only the one we would like to pet. Source: Primack 1995; Bozzuto, C. 2019

Gosh, Anna Benner killed it with the animation in this one. It felt almost Okami-like. Bravo

My only concern with zoos in these situations are the ones who don’t prioritize the animal’s health and quality of life. As long as the animals are healthy, happy, safe and have good care I’m supportive of the zoo or other form of captivity. I’m not sure how much has improved in recent years so I hope it’s getting better.

I've always wondered about the idea of zoos raising animals with the intention of releasing them into the wild for the purposes of increasing the wild population -- don't a lot of them (especially more intelligent and/or somewhat social animals) need to learn how to survive in the wild from their parents/community?

As a mongolian, thank you Ted-ED for calling these horses by their native name "Takhi (тахь)" and not of a tourist who just happened to visit.

The beautiful flora and fauna of this elegant ecosystem are the wonders of mother nature. Such delightful and ascending balancing of our earth is magnificent.

Fortunately, many 'modern' ZOOs actually do exactly what is hinted at in the video and run so called in-situ conservation programmes aimed at preserving the wild populations and their natural habitats. From my experience (been to all the EAZA backed ZOOs in my country + bunch of others in Europe and elsewhere) there are nowadays a lot of very smart and dedicated people who think about nature conservation in complex ways and often spend a lot of time working in the wild (collecting valuable data, fighting wildlife crime etc.). Aside from the example in the video (which I know well since Prague ZOO is known for being heavily involved with the horse's breeding and re-introduction activities) there are other cases where arguably ZOOs helped preseve a species so that it could make a 'comeback' in the wild.. and yet, altough there's surely some wisdom and sense in keeping 'emergency' captive populations + species studbooks, it can be argued a lot more effective and 'smart' strategy is to not wait for these 'last moment miracles' but rather to 1/ consistently keep educating public (young ones perhaps especially) about the many benefits of having nature and wildlife around both in local and global context 2/ improving quality of life for animals in captivity as otherwise many people might find it 'confusing' how there's a cry to save wildlife and then at the same time you see tigers, bears etc. running around on few square meters even in rich ZOOs 3/ focus tremendously with as much local support as possible on well planned in-situ conservation projects that actually help us understand, monitor, stabilize and ideally improve the situation of the wild animal populations which are critical and should be No1 priority. Once a species is gone from the wild, I would argue it becomes that much more difficult to re-introduce as people in particular will 'get used to it not being around' and hence might not want it back, and also other animals might 'steal' its niche and unexpected changes can happen that might make the re-introduction all but impossible.

Woah this animation was so smooth and beautiful.

Beautiful animation, animating a horse is very difficult and expensive so I appreciate the production value 😮

I have seen Takhis up close many times, they are really beautiful animals🥰

Nice animation. Congrats for working with putting so much efforts, ted team. I was waiting for such video on my favorite subject to be released.

There are several types of zoos in the world. Some are good and some are bad. On the one hand there are still bad zoos which only care about money. But luckily there are good zoos that spend money and effort to sustain populations in captivity, protection of habitats and the encourage people to help the remaining wild animals and ecosystems themselves. Sure not everything is perfect, but if it wasn't for a nearby zoo in my hometown, I never discoverd my love for animals and nature.

I swear, no one hates conservationists more than conservationists themselves. I have no idea how people can even begin to argue against programs like these when it is so much better than the animal just flat out going extinct. I witnessed the same thing at the nature centers I've worked at. Zoos do so much more for conservation than most other entities. You can't expect them to do everything and always get everything right. They exist to educate the public and get people to actually care about the animals and that is an incredibly difficult and important thing to do!

Many zoos are involved in conservation measures that include more then captive breeding of species. Many make considerable donations to conservation organizations or have there own where they work in the field and with the local governments to try and protect not just individual species but the whole ecosystem. Many zoos also focus on less charismatic species but most people generally only care if it’s something big and “appealing “ like a tiger or elephant instead of rodents or bats so those are the ones they mostly talk about to get peoples attention. Zoos also generally focus heavily on educating the public on species and the importance of them for the environment. In the case of releasing individuals back into the wild it’s actually a very long and complex process generally as they usually start in enclosed areas in the environment where the animals can get accustomed to the sights, sounds and the other species and wild foods they will encounter while also ensuring that they are protected from predators, poachers. During this process they are also offered supplementary food while they learn to forage on their own. Once they have been appropriately accustomed to the environment they are released in a monitored area so scientists can still keep tabs on them for survival rates. So if they aren’t surviving the reason can be deduced and the whole process can be revised. Conservation of species is a long and often complex process that most people don’t understand or really care about so it’s a uphill battle.

The last scene of the horses rubbing their faces together is so cute and beautiful ❤

I'm not sure if I agree with this video's conclusion. Can we not invest in ethical zoos/breeding programs and conservation projects at the same time?

Zoos are too small to save every animal from habitat loss. What zoos can do is create public interest. It's hard to care about an animal you've never heard of. Displaying and allowing the public to interact with animals will increase the population's willingness to protect animal habitats. And creating breeding programs can help preserve the gene pools.

I'd like to see you compare trophy-hunting to eco-tourism, in terms of what raises more money for conservation. Many studies have said that a living animal generates way more revenue over a lifetime than one-time hunting licenses can net.

Zoos and their marine counterpart, aquariums, are some of the most fascinating places to visit but I've never really felt like those places are moral.

Great work, Dr. Rothfels!

É com grande alegria que escrevo sobre a minha participação na tradução desse projeto para o português brasileiro. Ter a oportunidade de colaborar para levar essas ideias a um público mais amplo é uma experiência incrível e gratificante. A importância de traduzir projetos como esse para a língua portuguesa vai muito além da simples compreensão do conteúdo. Trata-se de uma questão de acessibilidade e inclusão, uma vez que a língua portuguesa é falada por milhões de pessoas em todo o mundo, sendo o Brasil o país com o maior número de falantes. Ao levar essas ideias para o público brasileiro, estamos ajudando a difundir conhecimento e tornando-o acessível a todos. É importante destacar que essa iniciativa não só contribui para a formação de uma sociedade mais informada e crítica, mas também ajuda a promover a igualdade de oportunidades, proporcionando a todos a chance de ter acesso à informação. Ao participar desse projeto, pude aprender muito sobre a importância da colaboração e da comunicação efetiva na construção de um trabalho de qualidade. A tradução envolveu um trabalho árduo, mas foi extremamente gratificante ver o resultado final e saber que contribuí para tornar esse conteúdo disponível em português. Enfim, é com imensa satisfação que concluo este texto, expressando minha felicidade por ter participado na tradução deste projeto para português brasileiro. Acredito que a divulgação de ideias e conhecimentos é fundamental para o desenvolvimento de uma sociedade mais justa e igualitária. Espero que esse projeto ajude a disseminar essas ideias e a fazer a diferença na vida de muitas pessoas. Agradeço ao gentil revisor Custodio Marcelino que me ajudou com diversos ajustes. Tenho certeza que ele também está feliz com esse projeto. Atenciosamente, Alison Castanha.

Takhis are one of my favorite wild horses.

The animation In this episode is magnificent

Extinctions caused by modern humans should definitely be researched to see if resources are available for that animal to be returned to their native habitat. I really wish corporations would get on board with revising how manufacturing is handled; we can't just keep expanding with little regard to the other creatures around us. The animation in this video was absolutely stunning! I love the detail, and animating horses is especially difficult. Was it rotoscoped? Such a cool technique, if so!

I mean it's better than nothing. Yes, it's a Takhi with human favored appearance traits but it's still a Takhi.

Animated horses are freaking awesome man

this is a very interesting topic to me, since here in germany, animal rights and in that context, zoos, is a topic that as recently caught some attention on the media, especially with younger people. it’s great that TED is out there debunking and informing for free about things like this.

this video has put me off Takis, i’m doing my part 🫡

Regulation of the red data book would be much more helpful and more updating of conservation is needed. Animale welfare is us balancing the irregular disturbance in this elegant and delightful ecosystem of mother nature.

"These pretzels are making me thirsty!"

Reserves better than zoos, for sure! Just admiring animals from afar, from observation spots, with those lenses to look them close, but from far away and safely. The less we interact with them, the better.

One time I saw the Takhi horse with my own eyes at Hustai National Park in Mongolian. Takhi wasn't larger than a average Mongolian horse. Takhi is basically just a wild untamed wild horse.

The scientists who fight to save this species are hero’s.

Thank you for the nice and good researched video. I would like to comment on some of the statements. Monitoring, especially if it is non-invasive, does not influence the status as a 'wild animal'. Since, as it was stated in the video itself, one of the bigger problems is the human wildlife conflict, monitoring and, in extreme cases, protection against negative anthropogenic influence is a reaction towards a conservation reality. The 'charismatic species' kept in zoos often also represent keystone species (the takhi e.g., is an 'ecological modifier') and megafaunal species with a high vulnerability towards habitat loss caused by their ecological need for large wilderness areas. This megafauna often goes extinct first as we know from (pre)historical findings. So, it makes sense to focus on species that are harder to protect in wilderness areas that are getting smaller by human occupation. Often even today's national parks might be big enough to sustain smaller species - but not megafaunal species. Zoos can be a back-up for a limited number of species until we are able to stabilise conditions in situ. This alone will of course not fix the holistic problem, but why should we turn down something that contributes to overall conservation. I totally disagree with the statement that zoos would contribute better to conservation if they would focus more on habitat or even climate protection. Zoos are just a piece in the puzzle of conservation. Their competence lies in natural education, breeding programs, animal behaviour, conservation research and in animal husbandry as well as wildlife veterinary medicine including animal handling. The latter points can become very important in in situ conservation as well. You also don’t ask a dentist to legally fight the sugar industry. You call a lawyer or a politician, which have the skills to deal with legislations, while the dentist keeps fixing caries. That does not mean that zoos cannot contribute to in situ habitat conservation. Since one of their missions (partly even the legal basis) is environmental education (scientifically managed zoos understand themselves as conservation centres), zoos can be the location where people, especially in urban areas, can learn about conservation and why it is important to protect natural habitats. Here, charismatic flagship species can play a major role in getting not only attention but also raising money! This communication strategy is utilised by the majority of successful NGOs as well.

If you're curious about the deeper nuances of conservation, and its purpose philosophically, you should read Wild Souls by Emma Marris. It's quite an interesting and enlightening book.

Asian Wild Horse (Equus ferus przewalskii) - also known as the Przewalski's Horse, and in Korea, these Equines are called "the Baekdusan Wild Horse," many People called these Animals as the Mongolian Wild Horse, or indeed, use the Mongolian name, which is the Takhi.

Another success story of animal preservation is ... PANDAS!

I think there's only so much zoos can do to preserve habitats, especially when many of the ones that are good (and thus would like to do that) are charitable organizations, nonprofits, conservation organizations, and other such organizations which would not earn the amount of money needed to support habitat preservation efforts. I think that should definitely be a part of what zoos do, but what they currently do in providing conservation and habitats within captivity seems far more within their capacity.

I like zoos. For billions of people, the zoos are the only way to see those beautiful animals with our own eyes. I hope they provide the animals nice habitats to live.

Love these animations.

gorgeous animation!

These are my guilty pleasure

I'm so early for once idk what to say so pretend I said something important.

0:43 Was expecting a velociraptor to jump out at that point.

"Perhaps zoos should focus on protecting habitats" and the best way for zoos to do that is to get people to develop empathy for the animals that live in them. Simple fact is even though we in the U.S. may agree that "yes this species and thus X habitat should be saved" we can''t brute force foreign countries to change their policies to be more favorable towards conservation. We can't overthrow African governments to protect rhinos, we can't strong-arm India to conserve land for tigers, so the best we can do is continue to breed them in captivity both as a fail safe against total extinction, and in the hopes that one day these countries will change their policies for the better.

Yes they can, and yes they have.

can you make a zoo the size of a planet like earth to keep all animals and plants?

1:59 What was that sound?

Brilliant animation 👌

This is why i resent the concept of 'all zoos are bad'. I agree, there are many terribly unethical zoos, which should be called out, but ive seen so many people have this notion of 'they look so sad, these animals should be out in the wild' when at times there are little to no animals out in the wild due of major human interference. Almost makes me wonder if the animals are safer being in zoos all together, since deforestation, wanton hunting for sport, etc. have forced them to be there. All ethical zoos want animals out in the wild if they can be, so maybe consider why they are there in the first place and not making uneducated blanket statements.

This reminds me of Heck cattle!

Very astounding 😃

When I saw the name Nigel my heart jumped bc i thought it said Nigel Marvin 😂

Animal welfare is common sense and not should be done as help but it's not done as well enough. We are doing bad things but managing very well by super sharp planning of protecting and conserving both plants and animals.

THERE IS LOGIC IN WHAT YOU SAY, SO THERE IS SOME TRUTH IN IT.

Nice!

Exquisite animation....they had no reason to go this hard

M8 at uni did work on this, and yes

Sometimes, I feel we need to redesign the concept of zoos to save animals. Maybe changing who is in the cage to who is out may work.

It's by no accident these times were called The Anthropocene!

Short answer: Yes. We literally have.

This kinda reminds me of the controversy of trophy hunting. Those who argue for it say that the money made from allowing rich people to pay a stupendous sum to hunt animals is used to preserve other animals and thus preserves animals overall, while those who are against it find that argument untenable. Zoos may preserve some animals, but I think overall, they do more harm than good. And as someone already noted, zoos focus on preserving the "cuter," "popular" animals, so the animals saved are very selective based on looks and/or popularity.

Yes. Yes they can

So... None of the script writters caught the absolute contradiction that is the fact that the fact that released takhi need to be monitored to ensure their survival is considered an issue while also making the (completelly correct) point that conservation should be focused on preserving the animal's environment? Yes, you NEED to protect natural environments, but said natural environments still NEED to have an ecosystem to protect, so re-introducing megafauna to areas where it was recently extirpated from is the only way to be able to obtain an ecosystem that functions at least similarly to the original ones, with the caveat that the very fragmented natures of this habitats will likely necessitate from a close management.

Conservation? We need to Takhi bout it.

We don't need zoos for conservation, if we want we can make proper shelter dedicated solely to conservation and not spectacle. The financial needs and incentives of zoos are very hard to alling with animal welfare. Of course, there may not be enough demand or awareness to subsidize those conservation efforts, we could work on that. But I think a bunch of animals suffering so they can be displayed is neither necessary nor justified so we can have conservation efforts.

This looks like a Miyazaki movie

Surname Przewalski should be pronounced as "psievalski" (tough si like a word televi*si*on).

This narrator is my favorite! Anyone know who it is? A name?

Wow!

The only thing that can save any species from extinction is the rehabilitation of destroyed habitat. Every other effort combined is precisely meaningless against the whole of conservation efforts. All species depend on complete active ecosystems including humans.

Talking about the impact of some zoos on one single species hardly does anything to answer what role zoos can play in conservation. I would say that this would be a great episode if it was just relating the story of the Takhi but it's horribly mislabelled and doesn't really earn the conclusion that it comes to. Some zoos were only questionably successful in conserving a species of wild horse therefore the people running zoos should instead be preserving habitat is not a coherent argument. It might surprise you to know that not every animal in the world is a Takhi.

Private zoos and collectors in general already do. The government and their policies are responsible for the vast majority of animals going extinct.

I Think is a Wild Przewalski’s Horses, And it’s Made it From in Mongolia. 🏀🐴🇲🇳🏞️🍿🪐🌼💙⭐️❤️🛻

What we need is to contain the increasingly human population as a whole... Especially those in Asia, Africa, & Latin America regions.

I love love love this wave of dissing zoos! Yes! It would've been soooo much better if animals like the Takhi horse, American red wolf, and the California condor had just gone extinct!!!! I love pretending like the people involved in species survival plans don't actually care about conservation, and only care about profits!!!!! Okay but seriously? There's a difference between certified and non-certified zoos, and even if (magically) everyone woke up tomorrow willing to fund conservation without receiving any benefits (like a zoo trip, or a sports hunting license), there'd still be a reason to support zoos. Many animals in captivity are there because they can't be in the wild, and unless we're taking the PETA stance (that it's better to be dead than in captivity), zoos act as a sanctuary for those animals. I love this channel but seriously wtf

Rescue. Rehabilitate. Release. -Finding Dory 🐠 Anything further is Inhumane

He said, "Wild asses." lol, yes, I'm childish

We need Bo, especially for specie that are already close to extinction.

So it all condenses down to greediness of some corrupt people dominating the true science spirit

A Zoo is a big business.

Thank you for calling them Takhi (Mongolian name) instead of Przhevalsky horse.

I don't see much of a point to animal conservation efforts, don't get me wrong I love animals and we should conserve the ones left remaining. But animals near extinction should just be left alone to their fate because at some point genetic diversity becomes a problem for the remaining population. Once there is no more genetic diversity, you start getting the species we're trying to conserve with defects and abnormalities. This is just a basic understanding of genetics but that at first look is the way I see it

summary: cages can be a stop-gap, don't ever see them as noble (i'm going off the title btw)

Humans: let’s protest these animals! Also humans: Haha let’s crowd animals into zoos to make a profit

the horse of theseus

[걸음마 / 나동수] 처음부터 걷는 아기는 없다. 고개를 들고, 몸을 뒤집고, 구르고 기면서 수없이 넘어져야 혼자 일어나 걷게 된다. 아기의 걸음마는 엄청난 고난과 실패의 결과인 것이다.

I'm confused. The video starts out saying that they went extinct in the 60s, then proceeds to talk about how that they were kept from extinction. Which is it, Ted?

Can you Bring German subtitles back pls. I can understand english but would be easyer to read it in my main language

Whether zoos can or can’t isn’t the right question. The question is SHOULD they, and the answer is no. There are much more humane and respectful ways to do so. Zoos exploit animals.

The major problem with the concept of protecting habitat is when there is a lack of political or grass-root support for in-situ conservation efforts. According to the BBC more than one-thousand conservation advocates have been killed in the last year. The brutal reality is when corrupt corporate interests, political agendas, and abject poverty coalesce the results are entire societies that are unable to support conservation. The reason American bison were imperiled was because of the lack of will to protect them. The same is true for any species endangered today. It unfortunately normally boils down to zoos and privates collections and ranches protecting specimens when there is no societal or political will. There is a man in South Africa breeding rhinos and can sustainably harvest rhino horn for the INSATIABLE demand from China for traditional medicine. Sure we might be able to convince the Chinese government to restrict rhino horn… MAYBE. But if you don’t also have an education-based grassroots program the demand from the culture won’t stop and thus the sale of rhino horn will go underground and rely on poaching (as it does because selling rhino horn is not legal). This means for some species protecting an entire ecosystem is a financial commitment that cannot be done and zoos fill a unique role of collecting money from individuals who do not and will not care about conservation. So yes for the guests at the zoo, the zoo might be an entertainment getaway. But the zoo itself is functioning at a much higher level. There are zoos beginning to focus on regional/local level conservation: Oregon Zoo has a head start program for Western Pond Turtles, Columbus Zoo has plains garter snakes and Lake Erie water snakes… it takes immense amounts of money to run a zoo, and so if going to a zoo is wrong in your eyes then don’t go, but spend that money you were going to spend at the zoo okay another NGO that supports ecosystems: whom also have overhead costs like a zoo. Or take all that money and plant native plants in your garden…. To a private greenhouse that grows native plants to pay for their overhead costs, and whom may sell “cultivars” that aren’t “real” wild specimens. Or just don’t buy anything you don’t absolutely need and live with less.

Okay.. Now I understand why they are called the DoTHRAKI.

Przewalski is pronounced (approximately) as sheh-VAL-skee.

Plot twist you live in a zoo this whole time

2:29 Average people: "primitive ancestors" What scientists actually call: Basal Forms

Juan

Interbreeding helps develop and strengthen any animal's elegant chromosomes and DNA but varies in different scenarios and cases of species.

❤

Horses