onager

1 medieval artillery used during sieges; a heavy war engine for hurling large stones and other missiles [syn: catapult, arbalest, arbalist, ballista, bricole, mangonel, trebuchet, trebucket]

2 Asiatic wild ass [syn: Equus hemionus] [also: onagri (pl)]

English

Noun

onager (plural onagers or onagri)

1. A military engine acting like a sling, which threw stones from a bag or wooden bucket, and was operated by machinery.
2. A wild ass, especially the koulan.

See also

• catapult
• trebuchet

Latin

Noun

onager, -agri

1. a wild ass

The Onager (Equus hemionus) is a large mammal belonging to the horse family and native to the deserts of Syria, Iran, Pakistan, India, Israel, and Tibet. It is sometimes known as 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 (E. kiang), a Tibetan relative, was previously considered to be a subspecies of the Onager as E. hemionus kiang, but recent molecular studies indicate that it is a distinct species.

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. They are notoriously untameable. Equids were used in ancient Sumer to pull wagons circa 2600 BC, and then chariots on the Standard of Ur, circa 2000 BC. These have been suggested to represent Onagers, but are now thought to have been domestic asses. (Clutton-Brock)

Subspecies

• Mongolian Wild Ass, Equus hemionus hemionus
• Syrian Wild Ass, Equus hemionus hemippus (extinct)
• Gobi Kulan or Dziggetai, Equus hemionus luteus
• Turkmenian Kulan, Equus hemionus kulan
• Persian Onager, Equus hemionus onager
• Indian Wild Ass or Khur, Equus hemionus khur

See also

• African Wild Ass
• Donkey
• Kiang
• Przewalski's Horse
• Somali Wild Ass
• Yukon Wild Ass
• Zebra

External links

• Encyclopedia Britannica definition of "Ass"

References

• Database entry includes justification for why this species is vulnerable
• Duncan, P. (ed.). 1992. Zebras, Asses, and Horses: an Action Plan for the Conservation of Wild Equids. IUCN/SSC Equid Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
• Moehlman, P. & Feh, C. 2002. Equus hemionus. In: IUCN 2004. 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. . Downloaded on 21 January 2006.
• Horse Power: A History of the Horse and the Donkey in Human Societies