Persian onager Persian Onager foals at the Wilds conservation center in Southeastern Ohio, in collaboration with experts from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. Since 2003, Persian onagers have been introduced in Saudi Arabia, where the Syrian wild ass once lived. Introduced Persian onagers live in deserts foraging on grasses and branches or woodier plant material in dry seasons. In 1968, 11 Persian and Turkmenian onagers were flown from their countries to Israel in exchange for Israeli gazelles. These were bred in captivity at the Hai Bar Yotvata wildlife sanctuary. Together, they bred a few Persian/Turkmenian hybrids in Israel. Offspring were introduced into
Onager Persian onager alone has been reintroduced to Jordan and the deserts of Saudi Arabia. Onagers are notoriously untamable. Equids were used in ancient Sumer to pull wagons "circa" 2600 BC, and then chariots on the Standard of Ur, "circa" 2550 BC. Clutton-Brock (1992) suggests that these were donkeys rather than onagers on the basis of a "shoulder stripe". However, close examination of the animals (equids, sheep and cattle) on both sides of the piece indicate that what appears to be a stripe may well be a harness, a trapping, or a joint in the inlay. Onager The onager (; "Equus