Przewalski’s Horse Foal Swapped at Birth: Montana Mare Adopts Wild Pony
Przewalski’s horse foal, wild icon with just 2,000 left globally, swapped habitats after its mother refused it, finding a surrogate in a Montana barn’s domestic mare named Molly. “Why do wild horses reject foals?” and “Can domestic mares foster wild foals?” trended as the world wondered if a zoo pony could pass for a cowboy’s steed. One onlooker quipped, “I’ve seen custody battles, but never with hooves.”
Trading Mongolia’s open steppe for a hay-scented Montana stable, the wild-born foal now nurses beside tractor tires and saddle racks. “How do you reintroduce endangered foals?” and “Can horses switch moms?” surged as the scene resembled a horse-themed witness protection program, complete with an identity crisis and oat bribes. One ranch hand mused, “He’ll be neighing with a Western twang by August.”
At just five days old, the Przewalski’s foal became the first in its lineage to sleep between a John Deere and a pile of country music cassettes, statistically outnumbering wild-born foals with dual citizenship.
