Onager Onager The onager (; "Equus hemionus"), also known as hemione or Asiatic wild ass, is a species of the family Equidae (horse family) native to Asia. A member of the subgenus "Asinus", the onager was described and given its binomial name by German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas in 1775. Five subspecies have been recognized, one of which is extinct. The Asiatic wild ass is larger than the African wild ass at about and (head-body length). They are reddish-brown or yellowish-brown in color and have broad dorsal stripe on the middle of the back. Unlike most horses and donkeys, onagers have
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