Аннотация:The Przewalski’s horse (Equus ferus przewalskii), the only remaining wild horse within the equidfamily, is one of only a handful of species worldwide that went extinct in the wild, was saved by captivebreeding, and has been successfully returned to the wild. However, concerns remain that after multiplegenerations in captivity the ecology of the Przewalski’s horse and / or the ecological conditions in itsformer range have changed in a way compromising the species’ long term survival. We analyzed stableisotope chronologies from tail hair of pre-extinction and reintroduced Przewalski’s horses from theDzungarian Gobi and detected a clear difference in the isotopic dietary composition. The direction ofthe dietary shift from being a mixed feeder in winter and a grazer in summer in the past, to a year-roundgrazer nowadays, is best explained by a release from human hunting pressure. A changed, positivesocietal attitude towards the species allows reintroduced Przewalski’s horses to utilize the scarce,grass-dominated pastures of the Gobi alongside local people and their livestock whereas their historicconspecifics were forced into less productive habitats dominated by browse.