The Equine Family Tree:
Order: Perissodactylous
Family: Equidae
Genus: Equus
Horses (E. Equus), Zebras (E. hippotigris) and Donkeys (Equus Asinus) are all a part of the equine family. Donkeys can be further subcategorized into the Onager (Asiatic Ass), the Kiang, the African Wild Ass and the Domestic Donkey.
The African Wild Ass inhabit the hilly, rock-strewn deserts and arid to semi-arid bush and grasslands in Africa where the ground temperatures can exceed 120 degrees. Normally light gray to grayish fawn, they have black rimmed ears and a slender dorsal stripe along the spine. The Nubian African Wild Ass (like the domestic donkey) has a shoulder stripe, whereas the Somali African WIld Ass has striped legs. Along with hunting, interbreeding with domestic donkeys is pushing the Somali Wild Ass to the brink of extinction and they are now considered critically endangered. The Nubian Wild Asses are now believed to be extinct in the wild.
The Onager, or Asiatic Wild Ass is more horselike in appearance than their African relatives. There are 4 subspecies of Onager - the Mongolian WIld Ass, Kulan, Persian Onager and Khur. 40,000 years ago they ranged as far north as Western Germany, where they lived alongside wooly mammoths, bison, aurochs and wild horses. One or another subspecies has at one time inhabited most of the steppe and desert areas between the Black Sea and the Yellow River of China. All Asiatic Wild Asses are a shade of redish brown during the summer and yellowish brown in the winter. All have dorsal strips along their spines.
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Jacob has leg stripes - an indication that he is a descendent of the African Wild Asses.