The Recently Extinct Plants and Animals Database Extinct Mammals: Placental Mammals: Equus hemionus hemippus

Author: I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1855

Synonym/s: Equus hemippus Saint-Hilaire, 1855 (original combination); Equus onager hemippus Saint-Hilaire, 1855; Equus hemionus syriacus Milne-Edwards, 1869

Common Name/s: Syrian Wild Ass, Syrian Onager, Hemippe; Achdari

Locality: "[from] Syria south into the Arabian Peninsula"

Last Record: 1927 or 1928

IUCN status: Extinct

Hypodigm

MCZ 6345 2 specimens are in the British Museum

Notes

The smallest of the equids, adults stood roughly 1m at the withers (i.e. shoulders). It's extinction was caused largely due to excessive hunting of its herds. It has been hypothesised that motor vehicles may have become available to local hunters before its disappearance and that this may have been a "factor", and the last nail in the coffin of the species (Harper, 1945). The last known wild individual was shot at the Al Ghams oasis, Lake Azrak, northern Arabia in 1927. An individual in the Vienna zoo died later that year. However, (Antonius, 1928) states that an individual survived in the Vienna zoo until 1928. This means that either the individual which died in 1927 in the same zoo did not in fact die until 1928. Or perhaps there were two individuals, one each dying in the years 1927 and 1928 respectively. Lots of extra information, photographs and links can be found here.

References

Original Scientific Description: Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, I. (1855). Sur deux Chevaux d'une espèce nouvelle (Equus hemippus) donnés par S.M. l'Impératrice à la Ménagerie du Muséum d'Histoire naturelle. C.R. Acad. Sc., Paris 41: 1214-1219. Species Bibliography: Aharoni, J. (1930). Die Säugetiere Palästinas. Zeitschr. f. Säugetierkunde 5: 327-343. Antonius, Otto. (1928*). Beobachtungen an Einhufern in Schonbrunn. I. Der syrische Halbesel (Equus hemionus hemippus I. Geoffr.). Der Zoologische Garten 1(1-2): 19-25. Antonius, Otto. (1938). On the geographical distribution, in former times and to-day, of the Recent Equidae. Proc. Zool. Soc. London B107: 557-564. [Abstract] Antonius, Otto. (1939). Zur Frage der Zähmung des Onager bei den alten Sumeren. Bijd. Dierkunde 27: 477-484. Blyth, Edward. (1860). XXXI. On the different animals known as wild Asses. Journal of Natural History Series 3, 6(34): 233-254. [Abstract] Bodenheimer, F. S. (1935). Animal life in Palestine. Jerusalem. Bourdelle, E. (1933a). Notes ostéologiques et ostéométriques sur l'Hémippe de Syrie. Bull. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat. 6: 435-442. Bourdelle, E. (1933b). La position zoologique de l'Hémippe de Syrie parmi les Equidés, principalement par rapport à l'Hémione et au Cheval de Prjewalski, d'après les caractères du squelette. Congrès. Soc. Sav. 66?: 193-199. Carruthers, Douglas. (1935). Arabian adventure to the Great Nafud in quest of the Oryx. London. Clark, Bill. (1983). Israel restores Asiatic wild ass. Oryx 17: 113 [Abstract] Clark, Bill and Duncan, P. (1992). Asian Wild Asses - Hemiones and Kiangs (E. hemionus Pallas and E. kiang Moorcroft). In: P. Duncan (ed.) Zebras, Asses, and Horses. An Action Plan for the Conservation of Wild Equids. IUCN/SSC Equid Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. pp. 17-21. Day, David. (1981). The Doomsday Book of Animals, Ebury Press, London. Dorst, J. (1952). Notice sur les spécimens naturalisés de Mammifères éteints existant dans les collections du Muséum. Bull. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat. 23: 63-78. Eisenmann, Vera and Tranier, Michel. (1985). Découverte d'un crâne non répertorié d'hémippe Equus hemionus hemippus (Perissodactyla, Equidae) (=Discovery of an unrecorded skull of Equus hemionus hemippus (Perissodactyla, Equidae)). Mammalia 49(2): 285-288. Groves, Colin P. (1974). Horses, Asses and Zebras in the Wild. Hollywood, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. Harper, Francis. (1945). Extinct and Vanishing Mammals of the Old World. Special Publication No. 12, American Committee for International Wild Life Protection, New York Zoological Park, New York 60, N.Y. Harrison, D. L. (1968). The mammals of Arabia, Vol. 2. London: Ernest Benn. Mendessohn, H. (1993). Introductions and reintroductions of ungulates in Israel. International Zoo Yearbook 32(1): 144-147. [Abstract] Milne-Edwards, H. (1869). Note sur un métis d'Hémione et de Jument, sur l'Hémippe ou Hémione de Syrie et sur l'Onagre d'Abyssinie. Nlles Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 5: 37-42. Moehlman, P.D., Shah, N. & Feh, C. (2008). Equus hemionus. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.1. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 29 October 2011. Tristram, H. B. (1884). The fauna and flora of Palenstine. London. Maas, Peter. (2008). Equus hemionus hemippus. Available online: http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/speciesinfo/syrianwildass.ht... [Accessed 1 January, 2013] * 1929?