File:Brehm's Life of animals - a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools. Mammalia (1896) (19792724003).jpg

Title: Brehm's Life of animals : a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools. Mammalia
Identifier: brehmslifeofanim1896breh (find matches)
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Brehm, Alfred Edmund, 1829-1884; Pechuel-Loesche, Edward, 1840-1913; Haacke, Wilhelm, 1855-1912; Schmidtlein, Richard
Subjects: Mammals; Animal behavior
Publisher: Chicago : Marquis
Contributing Library: Internet Archive
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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THE HORSES—ASSES. 415 casionally secure one of them as a trophy of his might. Man is a more dangerous foe to them. The wandering native shepherds are passionately fond of hunting the Koulan —the more so as the chase calls all of the hunter's ability into play. In zoo- logical gardens the Koulan is as yet a rarity, though it has been repeatedly introduced within the last twenty years, and has frequently bred in captivity, Paris alone having a record of the birth of sixteen young. It also has been successfully crossed with the Ass, the Quagga, the Zebra and recently also with the Horse. The Onager an Another wild Horse of Asia, per- Asiatic Wild haps in reality being but one and Horse. the same animal with the Koulan, is the Onager of the ancients, which is also repeatedly mentioned in the Bible. According to Sclater's com- parisons of living wild Horses, it is more than prob- exceedingly smooth and delicate. The mane stands erect and consists of soft, woolly hair about four inches long; the tuft on the tail measures from seven to twelve inches. The mode of life of the Onager resembles that of the Koulan. A.stallion is the leader of each herd, the other members of which are mares and foals of both sexes. In point of activity the Onager is not surpassed by the Dzig- getai. The perceptive senses of the Onager, especially those of hearing, sight and smell, are so well devel- oped that it is impossible to surprise it in the open plain. Its habits being very frugal, it comes to drink, at the most, every other day, and one who thinks to surprise it while drinking, therefore usually lies in wait for it in vain. Plants containing salt are its preferred food, and those it likes next best are the bitter, juicy kinds, such as the dandelion, the flag,
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THE ONAGER. A wild Ass of central Asia, which is larger than the domestic species. It has a short, stiff mane, has great speed and endurance, and is found throughout an extensive range in central Asia. (Equus onager.) able that the wild Ass of the deserts of India does not differ from the Onager. Thus it would range from Syria, across Arabia, Persia and Beluchistan to India. The Onager (Eqiuts (Asinus) o/uigt'r) is perceptibly smaller than the Dziggetai, although it is taller and possessed of finer limbs than the common Ass. The head is proportionately longer and larger than the Koulan's; the fleshy lips are thickly covered with stiff, bristly hair to their very margins; the ears are tolerably long, though shorter than those of the Ass. The prevailing color is a beautiful white with a sil- very lustre, merging into a pale sorrel tint on the upper part of the head, the sides of the neck and body and the hips. On the side of the withers a white stripe of a hand's breadth runs down; a sec- ond stripe runs along the backbone and down the back of the hind legs; in its centre is a smaller brown stripe. The hair is softer and silkier than that of the Horse. The winter hair may be com- pared with Camel's wool, while the summer hair is and kindred vegetation. It does not disdain varie- ties of clover and lucerne or any kinds of cereals. On the other hand it dislikes all aromatic, balsamic plants, marsh herbs, buttercups and prickly plants, including the thistle. It is more partial to brackish or salt\' water than to fresh, but the liquid must be clear; it never drinks muddy or turbid water. Varieties and C/)a/-The progenitors of our Ass (Eqmis acteristics of (Asinus~\ asitius) live in Africa, repre- the Ass. sented by two sub-species. The first of these, the Ass of the Plains (Eqiii/ais asinus qfri- canus) resembles its tamed offspring in Egypt in physical proportions and appearance, while its de- meanor and habits recall its wild Asiatic kinsman. It is large, slender and of pleasing contour, brownish- yellow colored, lighter on the under surface, with a distinct stripe on the back crossed by another at the shoulders, and several more or less well-defined transverse stripes on the outer surface of the lower limbs. The mane is erect and short, the tail-tuft longr and stout.

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