Species protection success: In the wide steppes of Kazakhstan, researchers have again settled a group of Culana. These Asian wild donkey are at risk. Your relocation and resettlement in the ALTYN-DALA reserve is intended to help keep both the rare donkey species and the ecosystems there. Because the kulans contribute significantly to the renaturation of the once wild landscape of Kazakhstan.
Congers (Equus Hemionus Kulan) are Asian wild donkeys who once roamed the Torgai steppe in Kazakhstan in large herds. Through hunting and poaching, however, they disappeared completely from this extensive landscape more than a century ago. Only in some natural reserves and national parks in Central Asia could a few hundred of the wild hoof animals be preserved. Since then, not only this donkey species, but also their former habitat, the grassland ecosystems of the Torgai steppe, have been very threatened.
Gradually resettlement of the Kulan
Researchers and conservationists are therefore working on setting this key animal species in the ALTYN-DALA reserve in the uninhabited steppe region Kostanay. Since 2017, they have been moving a few dozen congregations from other parts of Kazakhstan every year, where the animals already occur in small numbers. Due to these relocations, there is now a small culanity population in the Torgai steppe. Local rangers have repeatedly documented foal births for several years. This increases the chance of a long-term recovery of the cultural stock in the steppe. But it is still unsure whether the population can really adapt to its new reserve and survive there.
In order to further increase this chance, the team from the ALTYN DALA CONEATION Initiative (ADCI) has now relocated some Congane. The Wildesel were transported for the first time by land from the ALTYN-EMEL National Park to the reserve more than 2000 kilometers away in Central Kasachstan instead of frightening them. There the wild donkey spent a whole year in a supervised acclimatization enclosure to recover from the long journey. In the enclosure, they were also cared for veterinarian and prepared for the search for food in the wild. The hoof animals formed a narrow group without aggressive behavior or social problems. This is not a matter of course for these intelligent, watchful and sensitive game, as the team emphasizes. Afterwards, the researchers left the healthy cultural group free in the ALTYN-DALA reserve in August 2025 and thus moved them back into the wild again.
GPS data reveal group movements
In the next few years, the researchers want to pursue how the nimble culanas in the steppe move as their new old homeland. For this purpose, you previously equipped six animals with the transmitters at nightly fishing campaigns at the water points of the enclosure. Three young animals received solar-powered, light GPS ear brands and three adults bare both ear markers and GPS neck bands. This should enable long -term monitoring of the whole group and bring new knowledge about how this species explores new areas and selects territories.
The first location data of the broadcasters already show the characteristic hiking behavior of the congregations: Some animals moved to the northwest to explore lakes and wetlands before returning south on the same way. Others moved on a newly created paths to the southeast with an average of 26 kilometers per day, as the team reports. “The huge new area can be confusing at first, and COLANS thrust best when they live in groups and move in groups,” explains Albert Salemgareyev from the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK).
The movement data also show that the new and the cultural groups, which have been released in previous years, have already met in the same areas. “We hope that these GPS signals will meet and intertwine regularly in the future,” says Salemgareyev. This would mean that the animals from the different groups pairs and future generations of culanas. “These culanas are pioneers of a future population and literally pave the way that others will follow,” said Salemgareyev.
Key to a wild Kazakhstan
In order for the animals of different groups to find themselves more easily in the wide grass landscape in the future, the team wants to relocate and emerge more culanas in the coming years. A total of around 100 animals are to be brought to the region. The more wild donkey live in the steppe, the more new coherent groups form. This improves the chances of survival of the cups and thus promotes the renaturation of the entire steppe ecosystems. “The return of the culanas and wild horses is more than a resettlement-it is the revival of the natural structure of the Torgai steppe. These species are the key to restoring the balance of this unique ecosystem,” emphasizes Stephanie Ward from the Zoological Society of Frankfurt.
Source: Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) in the research association Berlin eV