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Despite the successful conservation of the Przewalski’s horse (PH), Equus ferus przewalskii Groves, 1986 in captivity and reintroduction attempts in Mongolia, there is little knowledge on the genetic variability of these populations. We studied 76 non-metric characters of 130 PH skulls to assess epigenetic variability within and epigenetic distance between temporal and geographical populations of the PH, as well as their fluctuating asymmetry. Our assessment includes skull samples of original native, captive, and reintroduced PH populations. We found the epigenetic variability of original (Iev = 0.21) and captive (Iev = 0.22) PH populations to be similar; the epigenetic variability of reintroduced PH populations was slightly higher (Iev = 0.25). We compared the degree of epigenetic distance among original native, captive, and reintroduced PH populations spanning over 110 years. A low degree of fluctuating asymmetry (FA = 0.05 - 0.08) found in all populations we examined indicates no signs of reduced developmental stability. This suggests that the PH populations are not under undue environmental stress, and there is no evidence of effects of inbreeding depression.

Science-based conservation efforts in general, and wide-ranging equid conservation speci fi cally, of- ten require capture and subsequent handling of the subject animal. Safe and animal-welfare appropriate wild equid capture and anaesthesia is a complex operation necessitating a multitude of skills that require appropriate veterinary training. The agent of choice for wild equid capture and anaesthesia is the potent opiate ethorphine in combination with speci fi c opiate antagonists that allow for the complete reversal of the anaesthetic effects. The recommended dosage for a healthy, wild adult Przewalski’s horse is 2.5- 3.0 mg ethorphine, 10 mg of the alpha2-agonist detomidine and 10 mg of the opioid agonist-antagonist butorphanol. In Przewalski’s horses ethorphine is reversed with the opioid antagonist naltrexone (200 mg). In khulan procedures anaesthesia was induced with a combination of 4.4 mg Ethorphine, 10 mg Detomidine and 10 mg Buthorphanol. Anaesthesia was reversed with the opioid antagonist-agonist di- prenorphine or a combination of 200 mg naltrexone and the alpha2-antagonist 20 mg atipamezole. All equids were standing and alert approximately two minutes following administration of the antagonists.