Syrian wild ass
| Syrian wild ass | |
|---|---|
| A Syrian wild ass in London Zoo, 1872 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Equidae |
| Genus: | Equus |
| Species: | |
| Subspecies: | †E. h. hemippus
|
| Trinomial name | |
| †Equus hemionus hemippus I. Geoffroy, 1855
| |
| Synonyms | |
|
Equus hemionus syriacus | |
The Syrian wild ass (Equus hemionus hemippus), less commonly known as a hemippe, an achdari, or a Mesopotamian or Syrian onager, is an extinct subspecies of onager native to the Arabian Peninsula and surrounding areas. It ranged across present-day Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Turkey.
It is believed this may be the "wild ass" that Ishmael was prophesied to be in Genesis in the Old Testament. References to this wild ass also appear in the Old Testament books of Job, Psalms, Jeremiah, and the Deuterocanonical Book of Sirach.