Indian Wild Ass

The Indian wild ass (Equus hemionus khur) also called the Ghudkhur, Khur or Indian onager in the local Gujarati language, is a subspecies of the onager native to Southern Asia. It is currently listed as Near Threatened by IUCN.

As of 2015, the current Indian wild ass population has increased to more than 4,800 individuals in and outside of the Wild Ass Wildlife Sanctuary of India.

The Indian wild ass, as with most other Asian wild ass subspecies, is quite different from the African wild ass species. The coat is usually sandy, but varies from reddish grey, fawn, to pale chestnut. The animal possesses an erect, dark mane which runs from the back of the head and along the neck. The mane is then followed by a dark brown stripe running along the back, to the root of the tail.

Indian Wild Ass Sanctuary also known as the Wild Ass Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the Little Rann of Kutch in the Gujarat state of India. It is spread over an area of 4954 km².

The wildlife sanctuary was established in 1972 and came under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. The sanctuary is one of the last places on earth where the endangered wild ass sub-species Indian Wild Ass (Khur) (Equus hemionus khur) belonging to Asiatic Wild Ass species Onager (Equus hemionus) can be spotted.

The Rann of Kutch is a sealine desert. During monsoon, the Rann (Gujarati for desert) gets flooded for a period of about one month and is dotted with about 74 elevated plateaus or islands, locally called 'bets'. These bets are covered with grass and feed the population of around 2100 animals.

The sanctuary is habitat to many species of animals and birds.

The main threat faced by the sanctuary is the illegal salt panning activity in the area. 25% of India's salt supply comes from panning activity in the area.
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