Lisbon, June 24, 2025 (Lusa) - Grazing feral horses in freedom can help reduce the risk of forest fires and increase biodiversity in Mediterranean landscapes, according to a study released on Tuesday.
Frontiers in Ecology & Evolution, a scientific journal, published the three-year study, that researchers conducted in the Coa Valley in northern Portugal. They concluded that when groups of different herbivores graze in the same landscapes, this grazing can more effectively reduce the risk of fire.
The organisation “Rewilding Portugal”, one of the entities responsible for the study and its dissemination, explains in a statement that since its formation in 2011, “Rewilding Europe” has been reintroducing semi-wild horses in many landscapes across Europe, one of them being the Sorraia horse in the Greater Coa Valley.
Rewilding Portugal is a non-profit organisation, created in 2019 in Guarda, which works in the north of the country in areas that have experienced significant rural resettlement.
The process of “rewilding”, or renaturalisation, is a form of ecological restoration that aims to increase biodiversity and restore natural processes.
In its statement, the organisation explains that through natural grazing and other interactions with the landscape and its wildlife, wild and semi-wild horses play an essential ecological role, which is why it is crucial to restore populations across Europe.
Horses help to create a mosaic of diverse and nature-rich habitats by breaking up grasslands and creating grazing areas, while also contributing to the spread of plant species and acting as natural fertilisers.
‘By consuming flammable vegetation, they can reduce the amount of fuel available for catastrophic forest fires, while the presence of iconic horse breeds in the landscape can boost nature-based tourism, as Sorraia horses are doing in the Greater Côa Valley in our ’rewilding’ areas,’ the organisation said in a statement.
The Rewilding Portugal team carried out the study of the transition from traditional livestock grazing to horses in two renaturalisation areas, Vale Carapito and Ermo das Águias, where Sorraia horses, a Portuguese breed, now graze exclusively.
The researchers concluded that horse grazing in both areas reduced the risk of catastrophic forest fires by reducing the height and quantity of vegetation. Because the horses affected woody vegetation minimally, the authors of the research suggest combining different herbivores for greater effectiveness in reducing fire risk.
The study also showed, according to the statement, that grazing by Sorraia horses increased the proportion of flowering plants in the landscape, which may increase the amount of food available for pollinating insects, and increased the amount of organic matter in the soil.
The reintroduction of large herbivores into European landscapes is one of the main activities of Rewilding Europe, with the wild horse being one of the target species.
In addition to Rewilding Portugal, the University of Lisbon, Rewilding Europe, and the Hill and Mountain Research Centre of Scotland’s Rural College participated in the study.
FP/ADB // ADB.
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