{"id":222491,"date":"2025-10-18T15:24:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T15:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/222491\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T15:24:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T15:24:12","slug":"wild-horses-roam-freely-on-mount-erciyes-slopes-in-central-anatolia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/222491\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild horses roam freely on Mount Erciyes slopes in central Anatolia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On the slopes of Mount Erciyes, Central Anatolia\u2019s highest peak, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysabah.com\/gallery\/wild-horses-add-special-beauty-to-nature-in-antalya-turkiye\/images\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">wild horses<\/a>, known locally as &#8220;y\u0131lk\u0131 atlar\u0131,&#8221; roam freely, blending with the rugged landscape.<\/p>\n<p>Once indispensable to local villagers, horses became less necessary with modern technology. Many were left to fend for themselves in the mountains during winter, gradually becoming fully wild.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the horses have established herds across the steep slopes, often accompanied by foals, galloping freely through the highland pastures. The horses\u2019 territory extends across the plateaus and meadows at roughly 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) above sea level. Droughts and shrinking water sources sometimes pose challenges for the animals.<\/p>\n<p>Muhammed Ko\u00e7ak, president of the Erciyes Sar\u0131g\u00f6l Wild Horses and Nature Conservation Association, told Anadolu Agency (AA) in an interview on Thursday that the group was established in 2021 to protect the horses. \u201cThere are more than 70 wild horses around Sar\u0131g\u00f6l. The spring dried up, so we dug a well, and now our horses and sheep have water,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Ko\u00e7ak emphasized the horses\u2019 cultural significance: \u201cHorses are part of our tradition. Our village dates back to the Seljuk era. We have always had herds in Sar\u0131g\u00f6l. We fight to ensure they continue to exist, in both summer and winter. The Incesu mayor, Mustafa \u0130lmek, helped bring water here, and the Kayseri governor\u2019s office supports our conservation efforts. Wild horses are the symbol of Sar\u0131g\u00f6l Plateau. Before 2000, there were more than 500. We call the herds &#8220;\u00f6\u011frek&#8221; \u2013 we say they roamed as an \u00f6\u011frek. Now, we work to protect them so their line does not disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>                    <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/JN9LXf.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n                    The Daily Sabah Newsletter\n                <\/p>\n<p>\n                    Keep up to date with what\u2019s happening in Turkey,<br \/>\n                    it\u2019s region and the world.\n                <\/p>\n<p>                    SIGN ME UP\n                <\/p>\n<p>\n                    You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.<br \/>\n                    This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.\n                <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the slopes of Mount Erciyes, Central Anatolia\u2019s highest peak, wild horses, known locally as &#8220;y\u0131lk\u0131 atlar\u0131,&#8221; roam&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2837,49,48,106799,66,106798,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-222491","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-mount-erciyes","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-wild-horses","14":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}