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Onager (Redirected from Hemionids)

This article is about the horse species. For the siege weapon, see Onager (siege weapon).

The Onager (Equus hemionus) is a large mammal belonging to the horse family and native to the deserts of Syria, Iran, India, and Tibet. It is sometimes known as the Half Ass or the Asian Wild Ass.

Like many other large grazing animals, its range has contracted greatly under the pressures of hunting and habitat loss, and of the six subspecies, one is extinct and two endangered. The Kiang (Equus kiang), a Tibetan relative, is generally regarded as a separate species, although classified by some as a subspecies of Onager, E. hemionus kiang.

Onagers are a little larger than Donkeys at about 290 kg and 2.1 metres (head-body length), and are a little more horse-like. They are short-legged compared to horses, and their coloring varies depending on the season. They are generally reddish-brown in color during the summer, becoming yellowish-brown in the winter months. They have a black stripe bordered in white that extends down the middle of the back. Onagers were used in ancient Sumer to pull chariots, circa 2600 BCE.

Subspecies

• Mongolian Wild Ass (Equus hemionus hemionus). Status: vulnerable.
• Indian Wild Ass or Khur (Equus hemionus khur). Status: endangered.
• Gobi Kulan (Equus hemionus luteus). Status: vulnerable.
• Kulan (Equus hemionus kulan). Status: critically endangered.
• Onager or Persian Onager (Equus hemionus onager). Status: critically endangered.
• Syrian Wild Ass (Equus hemionus hemippus). Status: extinct since 1927.

See also

• La peau de chagrin

External link

• Onager (Asiatic wild ass) (http://www.trekker.co.il/english/israel/i-bar-08.htm)- Photo from the Hai-Bar Wildlife Preserve in Israel.