African Wild Donkey Home Habitat Behavior

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Introduction

The African wild ass (Equus africanus) or African wild donkey is a wild member of the horse family, Equidae.[3] This species is thought to be the ancestor of the domestic donkey (Equus asinus), which is sometimes placed within the same species.[4] They live in the deserts and other arid areas of the Horn of Africa, in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. It formerly had a wider range north and west into Sudan, Egypt, and Libya. It is Critically Endangered, with about 570 existing in the wild.

picture of profile of a wild african donkey
Wild African Donkey

H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

wild african donkey mother with foal
Wild African Donkey mother with her foal

TimVickers, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Description

The African wild ass is about 1.2 metres (4 ft) tall and weighs approximately 250 kilograms (600 lb).[5] 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, while in the Nubian wild ass (E. a. africanus), as well as the domestic donkey, there is a stripe across the shoulder.[6] The legs of the Somali wild ass (E. a. somaliensis) are horizontally striped with black, resembling those of a zebra.[5] On the nape of the neck, there is a stiff, upright mane, the hairs of which are tipped with black.[citation needed] 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.[5]

Other Media

Video of domesticated donkey

David van der Mark, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sound of a donkey braying

felix-blume, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons


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