ITG Managing Director, Switzerland, Lena Michler presented the results of her research at the annual conference of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland: “Traditional pastoral use of local herders in the strictly protected area of the Greater Gobi B in Mongolia.”
“The first part of the Learning Wild expedition to the Great Gobi B SPA is dedicated purely to research. The focus is on collecting behavioural data in the form of videos and detailed field notes on the takhi (Przewalski’s horse), Khulan (Asiatic wild ass) and the free-living domestic horses who share this extraordinary landscape. By collection information on these populations, we can formally anchor the takhi as a control group, giving us a baseline “gold standard” of equine behaviour in their natural habitat.
The head of the ITG Scientific Council, Prof. Dr. Kaczensky, presented on the Takhi reintroduction at the International Wildlife Congress in Lillihammer, Norway: “30 Years of Reintroduction of Przewalski’s Horses in Mongolia – Lessons Learned and Novel Challenges.”
In line with its vision, the ITG supports conservation projects for wild horse populations and their habitats throughout Central Asia. The ITG does this, among other things, through the international coordination of projects to reintroduce the Przewalski’s horse to its native lands and to create ecological networks of protected areas. The ITG is currently involved in further developing and implementing the Central Asian Mammals Initiative CAMI under the umbrella of the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species CMS, in the listing of the Mongolian Gobi as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site, and in establishing an international conservation experts alliance for the Przewalski’s horse. During a visit to the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Ulaanbaatar, the ITG President Reinhard Schnidrig, and the ITG Mongolia Director Batsukh Jamiynadorj presented these projects to UN officer Ariunaa Chadraabal.
The Great Gobi B SPA and ITG jointly organized a successful workshop with herders from the buffer zone!
The conference covered:
✅ Pasture use and management
✅Improved livestock breeding
✅ Animal diseases and prevention
✅ Takhi conservation
✅ Rural development opportunities
✅ Open discussions with questions and answers took place
It was a valuable day where researchers, conservationists, veterinarians, representatives of international organizations, and local herders came together to share their experiences and knowledge.
This event, which supported cooperation and participation, was an important step towards protecting the Gobi ecosystem and increasing the participation of herders.
To investigate the biodiversity of the GGB SPA, currently 40 solar powered trail cameras were installed at 20 waterpoints across the protected area. These vital spots attract both wildlife and livestock, offering a rare insight into their behaviors and interactions. Which species come to the water? Do wildlife and livestock share the water? Does human presence influence the animals? Our camera trap project aims to give answers to these questions!
Together with the director of the protected area, Mr. Altansukh N., Reinhard Schnidrig undertook several field visits to observe takhi, khulan, and goitered gazelles. Joint projects were discussed, and the course for cooperation in the coming months was set.
The strictly protected Great Gobi area celebrates its 50th anniversary.
The ITG is proud to contribute to the protection of this beautiful area through its work.
The Mongolian Gobi likely houses the largest population of goitered gazelles. But still, not much is known about their movement-strategies – are they migratory, nomadic, range resident or show a mix of it. Therefore, in September 2024 a team of scientiest captured some gazelles in the Great Gobi B SPA to put solar powered GPS-satellite collars around their necks. Read the story and find the first results of this study.
Funding and support for this project was provided by the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna; Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management at the University of Inland Norway; International Takhi Group; Nuernberg Zoo and Great Gobi B SPA.
Wild horses and wild asses, together with saiga antelopes, are to repopulate the golden steppe of Kazakhstan, the Altyn Dala. ITG shares this objective and joins therefore now the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative (ADCI), in addition to the protection of the wild horses (takhi) in Mongolia. This large-scale, long-term project aims to restore fully functional ecosystems with their original fauna in the grasslands of Kazakhstan, covering an area of around 700,000 km². The ADCI is a joint project co-founded by the Frankfurt Zoological Society (ZGF) and managed by the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK). The last two years, however, the camp for the reintroduction of takhi and wild asses (kulan) has been flooded due to the recent rapid snowmelt in warmer springs. The ITG, with the support of the Fondation OptisomAs, is therefore helping to build a new center on higher elevation. Prague Zoo, a member of the ITG, has assumed responsibility for transporting the wild horses from European zoos.
