Asiatic Wild Ass

(Equus hemionus)


Facts

Asiatic Wild Ass IUCN ENDANGERED (EN)

 

Facts about this animal

Asiatic wild asses can easily be differentiated from the African wild ass by their coat colour which is brownish, not grey, and their shorter ears.


Asiatic wild asses share their habitat with Przewalski's horses.

Did you know?
That Asiatic wild asses are very fast runners? Indeed onagers have been clocked running at about 50 kilometers per hour!


 

Factsheet
Class MAMMALIA
Order PERISSODACTYLA
Suborder HIPPOMORPHA
Family EQUIDAE
Name (Scientific) Equus hemionus
Name (English) Asiatic Wild Ass
Name (French) Ane sauvage d'Asie
Name (German) Asiatischer Wildesel
Name (Spanish) Asno salvaje asiatico
CITES Status Appendix II (Except spp. hemionus and khur)
CMS Status Appendix II as Equus hemionus sensu lato

 

 

Photo Copyright by
Hans-Peter Scholz Ulenspiegel

Distribution

 


Distribution
Habitat Steppe and desert areas
Wild population Equus h. onager: approx. 600 (2005) Equus h. kulan: approx. 650 (2000)
Zoo population On January 1, 2008, there were 273 live Equus h. kulan in the studbook and another 357 at Canyon Colorado Equid Sanctuary, and 98 Equus h. onager registered with the International Studbook and 47 at Canyon Colorado Sanctuary. About 32 E. h. onager are kept in a 100 ha enclosure near Yadz/Gourab in Iran. A few Equus h. khur are kept by Indian zoos.

In the Zoo

Asiatic Wild Ass

 

How this animal should be transported

For air transport, Container Note 73 of the IATA Live Animals Regulations, should be followed.

 

Find this animal on ZooLex

 

Photo Copyright by
Kallerna

Why do zoos keep this animal

Two of the Asiatic wild ass subspecies are critically endangered in the wild. With a view of building up an ex situ insurance populations, mainly for the Persian onager at that time, an International Studbook was set up in 1961 under the WAZA umbrella, and zoos maintain now self-sustained populations of Equus hemionus onager and Equus hemionus kulan managed by AZA and EAZA under regional conservation breeding programmes.

Regrettably there is no such programme for the Khur of India, which is equally endangered in the wild.