ESCONDIDO, Calif. (KGTV) — A cloned Przewalski's horse, the first of its kind, is now on public view at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Named Kurt, after longtime Zoo scientist Dr. Kurt Benirschke, the horse represents a significant success story in the Zoo's effort to develop technology that could prevent species from going extinct.
“It’s really inspiring to get to see him out there thriving, living as a wild horse should," said Gavin Livingston, the Curator of Mammals at the Safari Park.
Przewalski's horse is a critically-endangered species of wild horse, native to the Central Asian Steppe. It went extinct in the wild due to loss of habitat and hunting, although around 250 have since been reintroduced to the wild in national parks.
Using cell samples stored in the Safari Park's Frozen Zoo, scientists were able to clone cells from a Przewalski's horse that died in 1980. They used those cloned cells to create a genetically pure Przewalski's horse embroyo, which they then implanted into a domestic quarter horse, to birth Kurt as a surrogate mother. In 2021, Kurt was moved to off-public habitat at the Safari Park, where he was introduced to a female Przewalski's horse named Holly.
“Her job is basically to act as a teacher. She’s going to teach him how Przewalksi’s horses behave, the sounds they make, the way they behave within a social group, and basically all the manners he needs to know in order to be a fully formed member of Przewalski’s horse society," Livingston said. So far, the transition has been smooth. “I guess nobody gave her the memo that he was cloned and so she didn’t know that there was anything unique or special about him other than maybe he just didn’t quite speak the same language as her.” Once Kurt is about two years older and more capable of taking care of himself, the plan is to introduce him to the rest of the horses in the herd at the Safari Park.
Livingston calls the success of Kurt's birth a "proof of concept" that the process can be used to save other species from going extinct.
