Somali wild ass
| Somali wild ass | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Equidae |
| Genus: | Equus |
| Species: | E. africanus |
| Subspecies: | E. a. somaliensis |
| Trinomial name | |
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Equus africanus somaliensis (Noack, 1884) |
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| Synonyms | |
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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.
There are likely less than 1000 animals (or even 700) in the wild and the IUCN Red List of endangered species described it as "critically endangered". This means they face an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
A few hundred specimens live in Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Their legs have horizontal black stripes, resembling those of a zebra.
As of 2011[update], there are about 200 individuals in captivity around the globe living in 34 zoos, as well as three animals in Hai-Bar, Israel (as of 2009). The international studbook is managed by Tierpark Berlin.
The leading zoo for breeding this rare ass is Zoo Basel, Switzerland. Its breeding program manages the European studbook for the Somali wild ass and coordinates the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) – as well as the global species committee of the Somali Wild Ass since 2004.
Basel started having Somali wild asses in 1970 and had its first birth in 1972. Since then, 11 stallions and 24 females (as of 2009) were born and survived childhood. Today, all Somali wild donkeys in captivity are related to the original group at Zoo Basel.
As of January 18, 2012, there are four Somali wild donkeys in Basel: The stallion "Gigolo" (3) and three females (among them "Yogala"-14).
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Wikipedia