A breathtaking report about the now-rare Przewalski’s horses that could not have been written in a more passionate, informed, or beautiful way.
When Stefan Schomann falls completely under the spell of the clownish gaze of an ochre-colored horse with an erect mane at Hellabrunn Zoo, how is he supposed to grasp that he’s looking at a virtually extinct species? The last free-living truly wild horse was sighted in the 1960s – in its original home, the steppes on the northern edge of the Gobi, where it was simply called takhi. Only about 30 animals survived, scattered around the globe and in captivity. But reintroduction programs now exist that are returning takhi from around the world to their native habitat. Schomann tells their story, which is basically ours as well.
The horse was humankind’s first muse, inspiring people to artistic creations already thousands of years ago. Its taming revolutionized trade, transportation, and warfare – yet, for the wild horses, it was the beginning of the end. But the takhi have left behind traces, which Schomann follows: to the reintroduction area Gobi B, and to places not indicated on any map and landscapes that dissolve all notions of time and space. Prehistoric cave paintings enchant him, and reading his lively commentary on world literature and on the travel reports of famous naturalists such as Humboldt feels like eavesdropping on a conversation between friends.
