INDIAN WILD ASS

SYNOPSIS
• Systematic position
• Physical description
• Distribution
• Food habitat
• Grazing habits
• Mating behaviour
• Threats to wild ass
• Poaching
• Predation
• Conservation efforts
• Indian wild ass sanctuary

SYSTEMATIC POSITION
• Kingdom-Animalia
• Phylum- Chordata
• Class- Mammalia
• Order- Perissodactyla
• Family- Equidae
• Genus- Equus
• Species- khur
• Common names-INDIAN WILD ASS, khur,
ghorkhar..

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
• The Indian wild ass, as with most other Asian
wild ass subspecies, is quite different from the
African wild ass species.
• The coat is usually sandy, but varies from reddish
grey, fawn, to pale chestnut.
• The animal possesses an erect, dark mane
which runs from the back of the head and along
the neck.
• The mane is then followed by a dark brown stripe
running along the back, to the root of the tail.

ASIATIC WILD ASS

• Indian wild ass may attain body length of upto
260cm and has a height of 120cm range.
• It has a tail that is quite slim, slender and can
gain a length of around 80 cm.
• It is covered by a brownish and yellow mingled
hair.
• Indian wild ass has a body weight
approximately 250kg in usual.
• Mouth slender, ears long and pointed. One of
the fastest animals in the world and can attain
a maximum speed of upto 50km in an hour.

DISTRIBUTION
• Indian wild asses are adapted to the xerophytes
which can be accomodated to the desert regions
based on their habitat.
• Feeding is mostly done by these in the early
morning hours and late in the evening.
• Copious drinkers, they are quite tolerant of the
saline content in their food.
• Indian asses have a significant sense of smell as
well as hearing.
• Mostly they are in groups.

HABITAT OF INDIAN WILD ASS
• The strength of wild asses seems to be
extending from Rann of kutch in Gujarat to
Jalore district of Rajasthan.
• Wild ass population has gradually increased
from less than four hundreds in late sixties to
more than four thousand in the 21st century.
• Indian wild ass, an equid species inhabits
the saline arid region of the rann of kutch in
gujarat.

FOOD HABITAT
• Indian wild ass is exclusively a herbivorous
animal(plant eating animal) and mainly its feeding is
dependent on the coarse grasses that occasionally
grow up during the rainy season.
• Cheek teeth are large and have complex folds that
enable them to chew the coarse grasses.
• As the water is scarce in the desert regions, the wild
ass intakes most of their daily water from moisture
content present in their food.

GRAZING HABITS OF WILD ASSES

MATING BEHAVIOUR
• Stallions live either solitarily, or in small groups of
twos and threes while family herds remain large.
• Mating season is in rainy season.
• When a mare comes into heat, she separates from
the herd with a stallion who battles against rivals
for her possession.
• After few days, the pair returns to the herd. The
mare gives birth to one foal.
• The male foal weans away by 1–2 years of age,
while the female continues to stay with the family

• Extreme isolation is a threat to the wild ass
which can result due to inbreeding.
• Overgrazing by livestocks reduces the food
availability and also reduces the availability of
water at springs.
• Cutting down of nutritious shrubs and bushes
increases the problem more.
• In addition to that series of drought years
could have devastating effect on this species.
THREATS TO INDIAN WILD ASS

POACHING
• The threat affecting the wild ass is poaching
for meat and hides.
• In some areas using the rare species for
getting traditional medicines is adding to the
concern.
• Habitat fragmentation and disease
outbreaks are causing a rapid decline in
their numbers.
• These animals are considered a highly

PREDATORS
• Wolves and hyenas are well known
predators for indian wild asses.
• Predators are well known to prey them and
their young fowls.
• Poaching at an extent turned out to show
most of the species in the end years of the
century from their past distribution , till the
same was declared as an endangered
species.

PREDATION BY WILD DOGS

CONSERVATION EFFORTS
• Conservation efforts have been made on the
indian wild ass by the wildlife protection
organization.
• Owing to the same, one of the key events is
the wild ass sanctuary in Rajasthan deserts in
the year 1972.
• This was done based on the wildlife protection
act of 1973.
• It significantly increased the number of asses

INDIAN WILD ASS SANCTUARY
• Indian Wild Ass Sanctuary also known as the Wild Ass
Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the Little Rann of
Kutch in the Gujarat state of India
• Spread over 4954 km², it is the largest wildlife
sanctuary in india.
• The wildlife sanctuary was established in 1972 and
came under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.
• The sanctuary is one of the last places on earth where
the endangered wild ass sub-species Indian Wild
Ass (Khur) (Equus hemionus khur) belonging to Asiatic
Wild Ass species Onager (Equus hemionus) can be
spotted.