World’s Rarest Ass is Born in Cheshire, England Zoo
The Cheshire zoo has announced the birth of an onager, or Asiatic wild ass, the world’s rarest equid. The foal, a male named Jasper, was born to Azita following a year-long pregnancy. Mother and son are healthy and thriving.
“The leggy youngster, who has been named Jasper by our team, is doing very well and mum Azita is doing a fantastic job of nurturing and bonding with her new charge,” says Mike Jordan, the zoo’s Animal and Plant Director. “He’s full of energy and enjoys playfully kicking up sand as he races around his habitat.”
The onager, related to the domestic donkey, lives in the semi-desert regions of Iran. In the wild there are only about 600 of them within two small, protected areas of the country. The species is threatened by poaching, overgrazing, drought, and disease passed from farm animals.
“With numbers having declined so rapidly in the wild, and the species now teetering on the edge of existence in Iran, it’s sadly very possible that onagers could become extinct in the wild within our lifetime,” says Jordan. “That’s why we’re part of an international conservation breeding program, to ensure there’s a viable safety-net population of onager in zoos.”
The Chester Zoo is the only facility in the UK, and one of very few zoos in the world, which breeds the rare equids.
Photo credit: Chester Zoo
