Wild Donkeys | ||
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Wild Donkeys | ||
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Wild donkeys were not included in the first wave of domestication of wild animals. When
they were domesticated later, they were highly prized and often owned by persons of wealth and
status. As other beasts of burden were domesticated through the centuries, the wild ass came to
be more and more property to peasants and poor folks. Its ability to exist on thistles and straw if
necessary made it the only animal the commoner could afford to feed.
Because of the low withers, a rider must sit far back to avoid sliding forward over the animal's neck and head. The horse's high point of the withers provided balance for riders to sit forward, yet was slow to replace the donkey as an acceptable mode of transportation.
The donkey's bray is very different than that of a horse, starting with a wheeze and a whistle. Add maybe a snort or two, then after warming up for several seconds, it sounds much like a rusty-hinged door being opened. An ungelded male ass or donkey is called a "Jack" or "Jackass," while the gelded male is a "John" or gelding. A female is called a "Jennet" or "Jenny," Jennet being the technically correct term, while jenny is a common colloquial term. Normally donkeys will have white points - a light muzzle, eye rings, belly, and insides of legs - though it is not unusual for these points to be lacking. The line of darker hair that starts at the top of the head and runs to the end of the tail is crossed at the withers with another dark line of hair. The cross may be seen on any color, but it is always found on grey-duns. It lacks a forelock and chestnuts on the rear legs.
Domestic Donkeys
Miniature Donkeys |
Mammoth Jacks |
Pygmy Domkeys
Andalusian & Maltese Donkeys |
Catalonian Donkeys |
Poitou Donkeys
Let's take a look at where the donkey came from. All wild asses look similar, having a heavy head, long ears, short, upright mane without forelock, straight topline, short croup, slender legs and a wispy tail. All wild asses adapt to life in rocky, arid climates of semi-deserts and mountain plateaus, in Africa and Asia. They are grazers, and will browse on bushes, scrub vegetation and bark when available. There are three separate species of wild ass in Africa and Asia, classified by differences in superficial appearance, physiology and chromosomes. Though the Asian wild Asses - Kiang and Onager - look similar to the African ass, they are a separate species, and if crossed with it, will produce infertile offspring.
In Asia, the Kiang asses inhabited the Tibetan plateau while the Onagers ranged all over the lowland deserts of central and western Asia. None of the Asian asses have domesticated descendants. If there were, domesticated asses could be mated with them to produce fertile offspring. The length of gestation for these Asiatic asses is 365 to 368 days.
The Onager is also known as the 'half-ass' and sometimes as the 'stilt-legged ass' due to its lower limb bones being relatively long and its lack of shoulder and leg stripes. There is a dark dorsal stripe on its back. Coat colors vary from sandy yellow to reddish to pale buff, with white underparts. The Onager is fast becoming extinct, the most western subspecies - the Syrian Onager - is already extinct. A few Onagers are now found in a few zoos across America.
One subspecies of Onagers, the Mongolian Wild Ass, once ranged from southern Siberia and western Manchuria westward across Mongolia to Chinese Turkestan, but is now restricted to the more inaccessible regions of Mongolia and the Gobi Desert. It is also known as the Kulan or Chigetai wild ass. It stands between 11 and 12 hands high, and is slightly smaller than the Kiang and lighter in color. They grow a very thick, yellowish-brown coat in winter to protect them from icy mountain winds. Its nose, inner parts of forelegs and hind legs and lower hind quarters are white, while the legs and underparts are lighter than the body color. There is a narrow black dorsal stripe from the withers to the base of the tail.
Another subspecies is the Gobi Dziggetai, among the largest of the wild asses. This Onager has a narrower and less distinct dorsal stripe than the Mongolian wild ass. In summer, the upper part of the body is grey to sandy-colored, turning lighter in winter.
The now extinct Syrian Onager was hunted for sport and probably for its hide. Also known as the Achdar, the Syrian Onager was once found in Syria, northern Arabia, and eastern Iran. These grey-coated animals were captured and bred to domestic donkeys and later horses to produce mules. They were very small asses, barely over 3' tall at the withers. The Syrian ass was the wild ass of the Bible and became extinct in 1927, when the last individual died in the Vienna zoo.
The fourth subspecies of Onager is the Persian Onager or Ghorkhar. It is smaller and paler than the Mongolian wild ass, with a light sandy-red coat and a light brown dorsal stripe. There is also a whitish stripe on each side of the dorsal stripe, meeting the lighter color of the
hind quarters. This ass usually has a shoulder stripe, and underparts are white. Winter hair is
longer and grayer, and the white area well-defined. The meat of this animal is considered a
delicacy by Persians, and they still hunt it today. Persian Onagers have been clocked at speeds
of 30 mph for long periods of time, making hunting a great sport to the Persians. It used to live in
large herds, migrating across the deserts of Iran, but today only a few animals survive in the wild.
The last Onager subspecies is the Indian wild ass or Khur. It is an endangered race, and was sometimes interbred with domestic donkeys or horses to produce mules. It lacks a shoulder stripe. Inhabiting the desert in northwest India, these wild asses live in social groups headed by an old female. Adult males living in separate herds from the females, only come together with the
females during mating season. It can be as docile as a tame donkey or as wild and untamed,
depending upon treatment by humans.
The other species of wild ass in Asia is the Kiang or Tibetan wild ass. In its habitat of the high Tibetan plateau just north of the Himalayas, small numbers can be found today. It is the largest of all asses, reaching over 14 hands high. Its upper parts are reddish while legs, under
parts and buttocks and nose are grayish white, sharply contrasting the body. Sacred to Tibetans,
it is now on the edge of extinction because of overhunting and habitat loss.
Now let's look at the African wild asses. The African wild ass is on the brink of extinction due to a combination of military activities, loss of habitat to domestic livestock, capture for zoos, and interbreeding with domestic and feral donkeys. They are grayer in color than the Asiatic wild asses, having white bellies, a dark stripe along its back, much longer ears, and often horizontal,
"zebra stripes" on the legs and a black stripe over its shoulders. Thriving in any dry stony area
where there is a supply of water within two or three days reach, they cannot survive in the sand-
dune wastes of the Sahara Desert. This ass is constantly alert, fleet of foot, and very difficult to
approach. The gestation period for the African wild ass is the same as the domesticated donkey
- 365-370 days.
There are several subspecies of African wild asses, the
Nubian, the Somali, the Algerian,
the Heuglin's wild ass, and certain feral populations in scattered areas. The Somali wild ass, or
Abyssinian, is slightly heavier than the Nubian, and is generally reddish-grey with a grey nose,
dark dorsal stripe and dark bands on the legs. The dorsal stripe is not very pronounced and is
sometimes lacking, and there is generally no shoulder stripe. The summer coat is grayer. It is
the only race found in the wild today, living as an endangered species in Somalia and Ethiopia,
and in a wildlife reserve established in Israel. It is a long-legged, beautiful and powerful animal
and bears little resemblance to the small domestic donkey of northern regions.
Present day donkeys of Ethiopia are of mixed origins from those depicted in ancient Egyptian art, the Ethiopian asses being of the Nubian type, without leg stripes, but also with the
strong shoulder stripes dominant in the Nubian. The Algerian wild ass is an extinct race from
Algeria and the Atlas mountains, and is depicted as having leg stripes, a shoulder stripe and a
dorsal stripe. Heuglin's wild ass, first described by the traveler Heuglin in 1861, may have been a
feral or cross-bred donkey from the herds common in the Sahara Desert. It was described as
having boldly striped legs, and well developed spinal and shoulder stripes. Feral asses differ from
the wild Nubian and Somali in being smaller and more varied in color. One feral ass, the Socotran
ass, is very small, mouse-colored, and has dark shoulder and back stripes, and faint bars around
its white legs. They are uniform in size, suggesting the population has been long established and
was not interbred with domestic donkeys. They are said to more closely resemble the Nubian
rather than the Somali, and if still surviving on the Island of Socorata, could be an invaluable
genetic relic of the Nubian.
Now, let's look at the Nubian wild ass. It is considered to be the ancestor of the domesticated donkey. Its general color is grayish fawn with muzzle, ring around the eye, and
underparts white. Its legs are usually marked lighter than the body, and it has a dark stripe
across the shoulders. The Nubian is probably extinct in the wild today, though it was once found
from eastern Sudan to the Red Sea, and possibly a wider distribution in ancient times. It has
been depicted by ancient Egyptians as a hunted animal, and is always shown as a domesticated
beast of burden in the ancient world with its distinct shoulder stripe and lacking leg stripes.
And you probably thought the donkey was a simple creature with simple beginnings!
There's much more to the story than this brief little history of wild asses I've just given you. Boy
what did I bargain for! This is turning out to be a real project, and could be quite lengthy. Read
on.
For more information, visit:
Published in two parts, August and September 1994 in NorthWest Breyer Horse Club Newsletter. (em)
© 1997-2007
NW Breyer Horse Club
& Refiner of Gold Creations
Equinealities in place since 1997,
Section in place 2001,
Updated 3/13/2007
