Africa’s only population of wild horses – on the eastern fringe of the Namib Desert – is facing extinction owing to years of drought that has caused hyenas to move into the herd’s area. The horses are descended from European chargers, which bolted from an army camp in colonial South West Africa in 1915. (Namibia was a German colony between 1884 and 1915). Over the generations, they have adapted their behaviour to survive in ultra-dry conditions. But since 2013, the herd has shrunk from a reported 300 to a mere 80. Not one foal has survived since 2012!

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