The African wild ass (''Equus africanus'') or African wild donkey is a wild member of the
horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...
family,
Equidae
Equidae (sometimes known as the horse family) is the taxonomic family of horses and related animals, including the extant horses, asses, and zebras, and many other species known only from fossils. All extant species are in the genus '' Equus'', ...
.
This species is thought to be the ancestor of the domestic
donkey
The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
(''Equus asinus''), which is sometimes placed within the same species.
They live in the
desert
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...
s and other
arid
A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...
areas of the
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
, in
Eritrea
Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
,
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
and
Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
. It formerly had a wider range north and west into
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
, and
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
. It is
Critically Endangered, with about 570 individuals existing in the wild.
Description
![Tiergarten Kleve PM16 020](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Tiergarten_Kleve_PM16_020.jpg)
The African wild ass is about tall and weighs approximately . The short, smooth coat is a light grey to fawn colour, fading quickly to white on the undersides and legs. There is a slender, dark dorsal stripe in all
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
, while in the
Nubian wild ass
The Nubian wild ass (''Equus africanus africanus'') is the nominate subspecies of African wild ass, and one of the ancestors of the domestic donkey, which was domesticated about 6,000 years ago. It is presumed to be extinct, though two populations ...
(''E. a. africanus''), as well as the domestic donkey, there is a stripe across the shoulder. The legs of the
Somali wild ass
The Somali wild ass (''Equus africanus somaliensis'') is a subspecies of the African wild ass.
It is found in Somalia, the Southern Red Sea region of Eritrea, and the Afar Region of Ethiopia. The legs of the Somali wild ass are striped, resembli ...
(''E. a. somaliensis'') are horizontally striped with black, resembling those of a
zebra
Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. zeb ...
.
On the nape of the neck, there is a stiff, upright mane, the hairs of which are tipped with black. The ears are large with black margins. The tail terminates with a black brush. The hooves are slender and approximately of the diameter as the legs.
[
]
Evolution
The genus ''Equus'', which includes all extant equines, is believed to have evolved from ''Dinohippus
''Dinohippus'' (Greek: "Terrible horse") is an extinct equid which was endemic to North America from the late Hemphillian stage of the Miocene through the Zanclean stage of the Pliocene (10.3—3.6 mya) and in existence for approximately . Foss ...
'', via the intermediate form ''Plesippus
''Plesippus'' is a genus of extinct horse from the Pleistocene of North America. Although commonly seen as a subgenus of ''Equus'' recent cladistic analysis considers it a distinct genus.
Species
Two species are recognized by Barron et al. (201 ...
''. One of the oldest species is ''Equus simplicidens
The Hagerman horse (''Equus simplicidens''), also called the Hagerman zebra or the American zebra, was a North American species of equid from the Pliocene epoch and the Pleistocene epoch. It was one of the oldest horses of the genus ''Equus'' and ...
'', described as zebra-like with a donkey-shaped head. The oldest fossil to date is ~3.5 million years old from Idaho, USA. The genus appears to have spread quickly into the Old World, with the similarly aged ''Equus livenzovensis'' documented from western Europe and Russia.
Molecular phylogenies indicate the most recent common ancestor of all modern equids (members of the genus ''Equus'') lived ~5.6 (3.9–7.8) mya. Direct paleogenomic sequencing of a 700,000-year-old middle Pleistocene horse metapodial bone from Canada implies a more recent 4.07 Myr before present date for the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) within the range of 4.0 to 4.5 Myr BP. The oldest divergencies are the Asian hemiones (subgenus ''E. (Asinus
''Asinus'' is a subgenus of '' Equus'' (single-toed (hooved) grazing animal) that encompasses several subspecies of the Equidae commonly known as wild asses, characterized by long ears, a lean, straight-backed build, lack of a true withers, a ...
)'', including the kulan, onager
The onager (; ''Equus hemionus'' ), A new species called the kiang (''E. kiang''), a Tibetan relative, was previously considered to be a subspecies of the onager as ''E. hemionus kiang'', but recent molecular studies indicate it to be a distinct ...
, and kiang
The kiang (''Equus kiang'') is the largest of the '' Asinus'' subgenus. It is native to the Tibetan Plateau, where it inhabits montane and alpine grasslands. Its current range is restricted to the plains of the Tibetan plateau; Ladakh; and nort ...
), followed by the African zebras (subgenera ''E. ( Dolichohippus)'', and ''E. (Hippotigris
Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. zeb ...
)''). All other modern forms including the domesticated horse (and many fossil Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58[Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...](_blank)
forms) belong to the subgenus ''E. ( Equus)'' which diverged ~4.8 (3.2–6.5) million years ago.
Taxonomy
Different authors consider the African wild ass and the domesticated donkey one or two species; either view is technically legitimate, though the former is phylogenetic
In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...
ally more accurate. However, the American Society of Mammalogists
The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammals, and professions studying them. There are over 4,500 members of this society, and they are primarily professional scientists ...
classifies the donkey as a distinct species, as it does with almost all domestic mammals.
The species name for the African wild ass is sometimes given as ''asinus'', from the domestic donkey, whose specific name is older and usually would have priority. But this usage is erroneous since the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature
The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is an organization dedicated to "achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals". Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 26 commissioners from 20 countries.
Orga ...
has conserved the name ''Equus africanus'' in Opinion 2027
Opinion 2027 is a 2003 ruling of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) concerning the conservation of 17 species names of wild animals with domestic derivatives. Opinion 2027 is in response to Case 3010 and subsequent comm ...
. This was done to prevent the confusing situation of the phylogenetic ancestor being taxonomic
Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification.
A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...
ally included in its descendant.
Thus, if one species is recognized, the correct scientific name of the donkey is ''E. africanus asinus''.
The first published name for the African wild ass, ''Asinus africanus'', Fitzinger, 1858, is a ''nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
''. The name ''Equus taeniopus'' von Heuglin, 1861 is rejected as indeterminable, as it is based on an animal that cannot be identified and may have been a hybrid
Hybrid may refer to:
Science
* Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding
** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species
** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...
between a domestic donkey
The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
and a Somali wild ass
The Somali wild ass (''Equus africanus somaliensis'') is a subspecies of the African wild ass.
It is found in Somalia, the Southern Red Sea region of Eritrea, and the Afar Region of Ethiopia. The legs of the Somali wild ass are striped, resembli ...
; the type has not been preserved. The first available name
In zoological nomenclature, an available name is a scientific name for a taxon of animals that has been published conforming to all the mandatory provisions of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature for the establishment of a zoological ...
thus becomes ''Asinus africanus'' von Heuglin & Fitzinger, 1866. A lectotype
In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...
is designated: a skull of an adult female collected by von Heuglin near Atbarah River
The Atbarah River ( ar, نهر عطبرة; transliterated: Nahr 'Atbarah), also known as the Black Nile, is a river in northeast Africa. It rises in northwest Ethiopia, approximately 50 km north of Lake Tana and 30 km west of Gondar. ...
, Sudan, and present in the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, MNS 32026. The two subspecies recognized:
Habitat
African wild asses are well suited to life in a desert or semidesert environment.[ They have tough digestive systems, which can break down desert vegetation and extract moisture from food efficiently. They can also go without water for a fairly long time. Their large ears give them an excellent sense of hearing and help in cooling.
Because of the sparse vegetation in their environment wild asses live somewhat separated from each other (except for mothers and young), unlike the tightly grouped herds of wild horses.][ They have very loud voices, which can be heard for over , which helps them to keep in contact with other asses over the wide spaces of the desert.
]
Behavior
The African wild ass is primarily active in the cooler hours between late afternoon and early morning, seeking shade and shelter amongst the rocky hills during the day. The Somali wild ass is also very agile and nimble-footed, capable of moving quickly across boulder fields and in the mountains. On the flat, it has been recorded reaching speeds of . In keeping with these feats, its soles are particularly hard and its hooves grow very quickly.
Mature males defend large territories
A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal.
In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...
around 23 square kilometres in size, marking them with dung heaps – an essential marker in the flat, monotonous terrain. Due to the size of these ranges, the dominant male
In biology, a dominance hierarchy (formerly and colloquially called a pecking order) is a type of social hierarchy that arises when members of animal social groups interact, creating a ranking system. A dominant higher-ranking individual is so ...
cannot exclude other males. Rather, intruders are tolerated – recognized and treated as subordinate
A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...
s, and kept as far away as possible from any of the resident females. In the presence of estrous females, the males bray loudly. These animals live in loose herd
A herd is a social group of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic. The form of collective animal behavior associated with this is called ''herding''. These animals are known as gregarious animals.
The term ''herd'' is ...
s of up to fifty individuals.
In the wild, African wild ass breeding occurs during the wet season. The gestation period lasts for 11 to 12 months, and one foal is born during the period from October to February. The foal weans for 6 to 8 months after birth, reaching sexual maturity at the age of 2 years. Lifespan is up to 40 years in captivity.
Wild asses can run swiftly, almost as fast as a horse. However, unlike most hoofed mammals, their tendency is to not flee right away from a potentially dangerous situation, but to investigate first before deciding what to do. When they need to, they can defend themselves with kicks from both their front and hind legs. Equids were used in ancient Sumer
Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of c ...
to pull wagons circa 2600 BC, and then chariot
A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&nbs ...
s on the Standard of Ur
The Standard of Ur is a Sumerian artifact of the 3rd millennium BC that is now in the collection of the British Museum. It comprises a hollow wooden box measuring wide by long, inlaid with a mosaic of shell, red limestone and lapis lazuli. It ...
, circa 2000 BC. These have been suggested to represent onager
The onager (; ''Equus hemionus'' ), A new species called the kiang (''E. kiang''), a Tibetan relative, was previously considered to be a subspecies of the onager as ''E. hemionus kiang'', but recent molecular studies indicate it to be a distinct ...
s, but are now thought to have been domesticated asses.
Diet
The African wild asses' diet consists of grass
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...
es, bark, and leaves
A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...
. Despite being primarily adapted for living in an arid climate, they are dependent on water, and when not receiving the needed moisture from vegetation, they must drink at least once every three days. However, they can survive on a surprisingly small amount of liquid, and have been reported to drink salty or brackish water.
Conservation status
Though the species itself is under no threat of extinction, due to abundant domestic stock (donkey
The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
s and burro
The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
s), the two extant wild subspecies are both listed as critically endangered. African wild asses have been captured for domestication for centuries and this, along with interbreeding between wild and domestic animals, has caused a distinct decline in population numbers. There are now only a few hundred individuals left in the wild.[ These animals are also hunted for food and for traditional medicine in both Ethiopia and Somalia.][ Competition with domestic livestock for grazing, and restricted access to water supplies caused by agricultural developments, pose further threats to the survival of this species.][ The African wild ass is legally protected in the countries where it is currently found, although these measures often prove difficult to enforce. A protected population of the Somali wild ass exists in the ]Yotvata Hai-Bar Nature Reserve
The Yotvata Hai-Bar Nature Reserve is a breeding and reacclimation center administered by the Israel Nature Reserves & National Parks Authority, situated in the Southern Arava near Yotvata.
The Yotvata Hai-Bar is the desert counterpart of t ...
in Israel, to the north of Eilat
Eilat ( , ; he, אֵילַת ; ar, إِيلَات, Īlāt) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jordan ...
. This reserve was established in 1968 with the view to bolster populations of endangered desert species. Populations of horses and asses are fairly resilient and, if the species is properly protected, it may well recover from its current low.
In captivity
There are about 150 individual Somali wild asses living in zoos around the globe, of which 36 were born at Zoo Basel
Zoo Basel is a non-profit zoo in the city of Basel, Switzerland. Its official name is ''Zoologischer Garten Basel'' — or in English: Basel Zoological Garden. Basel residents affectionately call it ''Zolli''. , where this species' breeding program
A breeding program is the planned breeding of a group of animals or plants, usually involving at least several individuals and extending over several generations. There are a couple of breeding methods, such as artificial (which is man made) and ...
started with Basel's first Somali wild asses in 1970 and the first birth in 1972.
Zoo Basel manages the European studbook for the Somali wild ass and coordinates the European Endangered Species Programme The EAZA Ex-situ Programme (EEP) is a population management and conservation programme by European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) for wild animals living in European zoos. The programme was formerly known as the European Endangered Species ...
(EEP). All European wild donkeys are either descendants of the original group at Zoo Basel or of 12 others that came from the Yotvata Hai-Bar Nature Reserve
The Yotvata Hai-Bar Nature Reserve is a breeding and reacclimation center administered by the Israel Nature Reserves & National Parks Authority, situated in the Southern Arava near Yotvata.
The Yotvata Hai-Bar is the desert counterpart of t ...
in Israel in 1972.
See also
* Endangered species
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...
* Fauna of Africa
The fauna of Africa, in its broader sense, is all the animals living in Africa and its surrounding seas and islands. The more characteristic African fauna is found in the Afrotropical realm. Lying almost entirely within the tropics, and equally to ...
* Feral donkeys in Australia
Feral donkeys were first brought to Australia as pack animals to replace horses, which had succumbed to native poisonous plants. Now numbering 5 million, they have been declared a pest, owing to their damage to vegetation and erosion of soil. Cull ...
* Asiatic wild ass
References
This article incorporates CC BY-3.0 text from the reference.[Groves C. P. & Smeenk C. (2007). "The nomenclature of the African wild ass". '']Zoologische Mededelingen
''Zoologische Mededelingen'' was a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal publishing papers and monographs on animal systematics. The publisher was the National Museum of Natural History Naturalis in the Netherlands. The first issue appeared ...
'' 81(1)
HTM
PDF
Notes
External links
at ARKive
ARKive was a global initiative with the mission of "promoting the conservation of the world's threatened species, through the power of wildlife imagery", which it did by locating and gathering films, photographs and audio recordings of the worl ...
Wild Equids
Profile
at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Species
at the IUCN/SSC Equid Specialist Group
''Equus asinus''
in Don E. Wilson & DeeAnn M. Reeder (editors). 2005. '. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed), Johns Hopkins University Press, 2,142 pp. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:ass, wild, African
Asinus
Equines of Africa
Fauna of East Africa
Fauna of the Horn of Africa
Mammals of Sudan
Mammals of Ethiopia
EDGE species
Critically endangered fauna of Africa
African wild ass
The African wild ass (''Equus africanus'') or African wild donkey is a wild member of the horse family, Equidae. This species is thought to be the ancestor of the domestic donkey (''Equus asinus''), which is sometimes placed within the same spec ...
Taxa named by Theodor von Heuglin
Mammals of Eritrea
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