Baby boom in Nalibokskaya Pushcha —20+ foals born in tarpan herd since March

This spring Naliboksky Republican Landscape Reserve sees a baby boom — a new addition to the tarpan herd of horses that were brought to Nalibokskaya Pushcha from abroad in 2019. Since March of this year more than 20 foals have been born, and new ones are just around the corner. The reserve noted that there are plenty of soon-to-be mother mares.

Tarpans — wild horses — once were the indigenous inhabitants of the Nalibokskaya Pushcha and many other territories of Belarus. Unfortunately, this species was exterminated at the end of the 19th century. However, at the beginning of the 20th century, the population with a similar phenotype was scarily revived in Europe. In our Blue-Eyed country [Belarus’ nickname], these beautiful wild creatures reappeared 6 years ago. Naliboksky Republican Landscape Reserve became the first nature protection reserve in the country where tarpan horses have returned. Most of them live freely on almost 400 hectares of the Tyakovo nature plot of the Nalibokskaya Pushcha, the rest were resettled near the floodplain of the Zapadnaya Berezina River last autumn. According to the Deputy Director of the Naliboksky Republican Landscape Reserve, Sergei Tumel, today they have over 200 tarpans.

“In fact, we would have even more of them, but first of all, we are concerned about their comfort and convenience. Since 2023, we have started to settle our apart horses to the other nature protection institutions in Belarus. For example, we have sent them to the Sporovsky Reserve, the Dipriz Zoological park, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha....As far as I think, this is only the beginning of the repopulation of these horses in our country,” he added.

Beautiful, powerful, mesmerising when in the wild tarpans bring not only ecological but also economic benefits to the Naliboksky Reserve. The herd of unusual horses attracts the tourists from even beyond Belarus. Sergei Tumel draws attention to the safety rules for the guests of the reserve. According to the rules, the habitat of tarpans can be visited strictly accompanied by the Naliboksky Reserve staff. Feeding and getting close to the tarpan horses is prohibited, they should remain wild as nature intended.