Food patch particularity and forging strategy of reintroduced Przewalski's horse in North Xinjiang, China

Abstract

In 2001, Przewalski s horse ( Equus przewalskii ) was reintroduced into a Eurasian desert steppe transitional area in China.Recent studies of Przewalski s horse have not examined the relationship between food patches and the horse s feeding choice behavior.This study aimed to study the vegetation communities of the reintroduction area and combine this information with feeding timedata to explore the foraging strategy of Przewalski s horse. A total of 588 vegetation patches were surveyed, which were divided into27 vegetation clusters. All vegetation clusters could be divided into feeding clusters, which constituted 59.23% of the study area, andnonforaging clusters, which constituted 11.14%. The remaining 29.63% was bare ground. Based on the degree of use by Przewalski shorse, the vegetation clusters can be divided into high-, medium-, and poor-utilization groups. Among these, the average foragingtime per unit area of the high-utilization group was 1.59 times that of the medium-utilization group and 23.68 times that of the poor- utilization group. Based on the results, we can conclude that in desert grassland with low primary productivity, the feeding strategy ofPrzewalski s horse is first to satisfy its energy demands and then its demand for quality food.