A Przewalski's horse and its foal in the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding and Research Center, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, June 2, 2020. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

Eighteen foals of the rare Przewalski's horses have been born in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region so far this year, including four captive-bred ones.

The Przewalski's horse, named after its Russian discoverer, is an endangered species native to the desert grassland of Central Asia. It is considered the only wild horse in existence today.

Most of the new foals were born in the Kalamayli Nature Reserve, the main habitat of the wild horses in northern Xinjiang's Junggar Basin, according to the reserve's management center.

A Przewalski's horse and its foal in the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding and Research Center, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, June 2, 2020. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

The horse's wild population in the autonomous region was 240 by the end of 2019.

Due to the dry climate in the reserve this year, the management center has provided artificial replenishment of water to ensure enough drinking water for newborn foals and other wild horses.

Przewalski's horses are seen at the Kalamayli Nature Reserve, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, June 3, 2020. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

According to the latest data from the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding and Research Center, the horse population in Xinjiang and neighboring Gansu Province has exceeded 600, accounting for nearly one-third of the world's total.

Once extinct in China due to hunting and a deteriorating environment, the horses were reintroduced to the country in the 1980s from Europe and raised in Xinjiang and Gansu. There are around 2,000 Przewalski's horses in total worldwide.