About The Project
Brief Information on the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative:
Founded in 2005 and operating under a signed MoU, the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative is spearheaded in Kazakhstan by the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK), with financial and technical assistance from Fauna & Flora (F&F), Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS), and the Royal Society for Protection of Birds (RSPB), working in partnership with the Government of Kazakhstan’s Committee for Forestry & Wildlife, part of the Ministry of Ecology, Geology & Natural Resources. The Initiative is a large-scale, long-term partnership to conserve and restore fully functional ecosystems of steppe, semi-desert, and desert across the historical range of the saiga antelope in Kazakhstan. The Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK) is a non-profit public organisation dedicated to the study and conservation of rare species of flora and fauna, as well as significant areas of Kazakhstan. ACBK is a partner of Birdlife International in Kazakhstan.
Brief Information on the large herbivore reintroduction project:
Right in the heart of the Central Asian plains, there is a vast grassland dotted with wetlands stretching thousands of miles in every direction. This is Altyn Dala, the “Golden Steppe”, and in it lies a region known as Torgai. Inherent to its unique ecosystem are large grazers, the Przewalski’s horses and wild ass, called Kulan. Due to human pressure during the last centuries, these charismatic species have been lost to the landscape. Since 2006, dedicated conservation efforts have significantly improved local protection levels in the Torgai region. Kulan are being successively reintroduced to Altyn Dala since 2017 and have been joined by the fourteen Przewalski’s horses by June 2025. By 2028, we plan to translocate 40 Przewalski’s horses from European Zoos and 100 Kulans from within Kazakhstan, thus creating self-sustaining populations of both equid species. This requires ongoing protection and monitoring to understand their wider impacts on the steppe ecosystem. While the Kulans are wild-captured animals from the world’s largest Kulan population in a National Park at the southern border of Kazakhstan, the Przewalski’s Horses will be provided by participants of the EAZA Ex-situ Program (EEP). Zoo Prague is leading on the selection and transportation of the wild horses from various European facilities to Kazakhstan.
The designated large herbivore reintroduction centre “Alibi” consists of a permanently staffed field station and several large acclimatization enclosures. It is strategically located in the Torgai steppe within an established network of nature reserves connected by ecological corridors totaling 40.000km2. Several of these reserves and the centre itself are run by the national NGO partner, the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK). The facility has been in use since 2017 for the ongoing Kulan translocation program.
Founded in 2005 and operating under a signed MoU, the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative is spearheaded in Kazakhstan by the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK), with financial and technical assistance from Fauna & Flora (F&F), Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS), and the Royal Society for Protection of Birds (RSPB), working in partnership with the Government of Kazakhstan’s Committee for Forestry & Wildlife, part of the Ministry of Ecology, Geology & Natural Resources. The Initiative is a large-scale, long-term partnership to conserve and restore fully functional ecosystems of steppe, semi-desert, and desert across the historical range of the saiga antelope in Kazakhstan. The Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK) is a non-profit public organisation dedicated to the study and conservation of rare species of flora and fauna, as well as significant areas of Kazakhstan. ACBK is a partner of Birdlife International in Kazakhstan.
Brief Information on the large herbivore reintroduction project:
Right in the heart of the Central Asian plains, there is a vast grassland dotted with wetlands stretching thousands of miles in every direction. This is Altyn Dala, the “Golden Steppe”, and in it lies a region known as Torgai. Inherent to its unique ecosystem are large grazers, the Przewalski’s horses and wild ass, called Kulan. Due to human pressure during the last centuries, these charismatic species have been lost to the landscape. Since 2006, dedicated conservation efforts have significantly improved local protection levels in the Torgai region. Kulan are being successively reintroduced to Altyn Dala since 2017 and have been joined by the fourteen Przewalski’s horses by June 2025. By 2028, we plan to translocate 40 Przewalski’s horses from European Zoos and 100 Kulans from within Kazakhstan, thus creating self-sustaining populations of both equid species. This requires ongoing protection and monitoring to understand their wider impacts on the steppe ecosystem. While the Kulans are wild-captured animals from the world’s largest Kulan population in a National Park at the southern border of Kazakhstan, the Przewalski’s Horses will be provided by participants of the EAZA Ex-situ Program (EEP). Zoo Prague is leading on the selection and transportation of the wild horses from various European facilities to Kazakhstan.
The designated large herbivore reintroduction centre “Alibi” consists of a permanently staffed field station and several large acclimatization enclosures. It is strategically located in the Torgai steppe within an established network of nature reserves connected by ecological corridors totaling 40.000km2. Several of these reserves and the centre itself are run by the national NGO partner, the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK). The facility has been in use since 2017 for the ongoing Kulan translocation program.