Przewalski's horses and Asiatic wild asses were thought to have coexisted in the past. After reintroducing the extinct‐in‐the‐wild Przewalski's horses within the range of Asiatic wild asses around 2000, it was hoped they would coexist through different resource utilization strategies. However, equid species worldwide rarely share landscapes. The Dzungarian Gobi, with limited water availability, also seems incapable of supporting two equids even though they exhibit differentiated niches. We delimited their fundamental and realized niches in water use by captive experiments and camera traps at watering points at Kalamaili Nature Reserve, China. Using generalized linear models and circular statistics, we analysed how interspecific competition, human presence and environmental factors (temperature, precipitation, water salinity and water deficits) affected each species' daily water use patterns. The two equids exhibited distinct water‐use patterns. In captivity, Przewalski's horses showed higher water dependency than wild asses—drinking more frequently, consuming more water per unit body weight (0.095 vs. 0.032 L/kg) and displaying greater sensitivity to high temperatures. Field observations from 316,556 camera trap photos over 665 days revealed that horses relied on fixed watering points and avoided saline and near‐depleted watering points, unlike asses. While both could drink freely day and night when separated, their interactions in shared territories showed a clear pattern: horses primarily drank during the daytime when heat loading peaked and used physical dominance to keep smaller‐bodied asses away from low‐salinity, long‐lasting watering points until nightfall when they left to forage. This forced asses to either drink at low‐salinity watering points at night or use high‐salinity ones during the day. The numerical advantage of wild asses—travelling in large herds—often results in their depleting watering points that were spring‐fed. However, watering points near human settlement, though scarce, remain accessible to horses as asses avoid them, thus providing reliable drinking spots for horses, particularly harems, after night‐time foraging. They serve as crucial refuges, preventing competitive exclusion by the numerically—but not physically—dominant asses. Synthesis and applications: Our findings highlight the importance of people in permitting sympatric coexistence during resource scarcity. However, human involvement requires careful management. Increased human presence may benefit horses but restrict wild asses' access to some quality water, potentially weakening their climate resilience.

Long‐term captive breeding programs play a critical role in the conservation and reintroduction of endangered species, yet they face persistent challenges related to demographic structure and genetic management. The Przewalski's horse Equus przewalskii , once extinct in the wild, represents a global model for conservation breeding supported by pedigree‐based management. Here, we analyzed pedigree records from the Xinjiang Wild Horse Breeding Center (WHBC), the world's largest captive breeding facility for the species, covering the period from 1985 to 2023. Using demographic analyses and generalized linear models, we examined long‐term trends in foaling output, first‐year foal survival, sex ratio, maternal age at reproduction, founder contribution, and inbreeding. A total of 428 foals were born during the study period, of which 372 survived to at least one year of age. Foal survival was positively associated with maternal parity. In contrast, foal survival probability declined over time and was negatively associated with individual inbreeding coefficient, suggesting cumulative genetic and demographic constraints in this semi‐closed population. Reproductive output was highly skewed among founders, with four males accounting for more than 90% of surviving descendants sired by founding males. Maternal reproductive age increased significantly over time, reflecting progressive aging of the breeding population. Offspring sex ratio was associated with maternal age, with mares in their prime reproductive years (5–14 years) producing a higher proportion of male offspring. Management‐driven removal of older and younger females through release and transfer further influenced demographic structure and sex‐ratio dynamics. Our results demonstrate that while pedigree‐informed management has supported population persistence and large‐scale reintroduction, emerging challenges – including demographic aging, skewed founder representation, and increasing inbreeding – pose risks to long‐term sustainability. These findings highlight the need for introducing new genetic lineages and integrating pedigree data with molecular genetic tools to optimize future conservation breeding and reintroduction strategies for Przewalski's horse and other endangered ungulates.

Gut microbiota plays an important role in host metabolism, immunity, and environmental adaptation, yet its response to contrasting wintering habitats in migratory waterbirds remains poorly understood. We compared the gut microbiota of whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus) wintering in a natural riverine habitat (Swan Bay, Hejing County) and an urban wetland habitat (Worker’s Park, Korla City) in Xinjiang, China. A total of 34 fresh fecal samples were analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We identified 2207 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), of which 734 were shared between habitats, indicating the presence of a conserved core microbiota. The urban wetland group exhibited a significantly higher Simpson index, whereas beta diversity analysis revealed significant differences in community structure between habitats (p < 0.05). Both groups were dominated by Firmicutes, Fusobacteriota, Proteobacteria, Campylobacterota, and Bacteroidota, although their relative abundances differed markedly. LEfSe analysis identified distinct habitat-associated taxa, and PICRUSt2 prediction suggested greater enrichment of metabolism-related pathways in the natural riverine group. Overall, wintering habitat was associated with differences in gut microbial composition and predicted function, providing new insight into the ecological adaptation of migratory waterbirds under contrasting environmental conditions.