Asiatic Wild Ass

Facts

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 de l'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

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.

How this animal should be kept

Asiatic wild asses should be kept in social groups of one adult male and several females with their offspring. Also the keeping of groups of compatible bachelors is possible. For up to five adult animals an outdoor enclosure of at least 800 m² is required, which should be enlarged by 80 m² for each additional adult. The enclosure should be well structured, frequently used areas, e.g. at the entrance to the stables, should be paved. The soil should be well drained. There should be sandy patches allowing for wallowing. There must be an easily accessible shelter of sufficient size. No indoor facilities are required. Where Asiatic wild asses are kept indoors at times, either a common stable of 20 m² for the first two adult animals is required, which has to be enlarged by 2 m² for each additional adult or, if the animals are individually stabled, there must be boxes of at 8 m² each.

Asiatic wild asses are grazers. They should be fed on a diet consisting of grass and hay supplemented by horse pellets, carrots and branches in leave.