Somali wild ass

Somali wild ass
A Somali wild ass at the Saint Louis Zoo
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Equidae
Genus: Equus
Species:
Subspecies:
E. a. somaliensis
Trinomial name
Equus africanus somaliensis
(Noack, 1884)
Synonyms
  • Asinus taeniopus var. Somaliensis Noack, 1884
  • Equus asinus somalicus Sclater, 1884

The Somali wild ass (Equus africanus somaliensis) is a subspecies of the African wild ass.

The legs of the Somali wild ass are striped, resembling those of its relatives, the zebras. There are estimated to be 600 specimens living in the wild. They live in Somalia, Somaliland, the Southern Red Sea region of Eritrea, and the Afar Region of Ethiopia. In addition, an estimated 200 specimens live in captivity in zoos worldwide.

The IUCN Red List of endangered species described it as "critically endangered", and they face an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.