100 Tenge Qulan

The qulan — Central Asian wild ass — was once widespread across the Kazakh steppe but had been hunted to near-extinction by the mid-20th century, with Soviet-era populations collapsing to a few hundred individuals by the 1970s. Kazakhstan has since led the most significant recovery effort in the region, with qulan numbers rebounding into the tens of thousands through protected reserves in the Altyn Emel National Park. This coin is part of Kazakhstan's ongoing wildlife conservation series, which has used the 100 Tenge denomination to spotlight endangered native fauna since the early 2000s.