Conservationists at Chester Zoo celebrate birth of 'incredibly rare' animal
Conservationists are celebrating the birth of an incredibly rare onager foal.
The foal was born at Chester Zoo to mum Azita following a year-long pregnancy.
Zookeepers have revealed the new arrival is male and have called him Jasper - a name with Persian origin that means ‘bringer of treasure’.
Onagers are a hoofed mammal, from the family equidae, which includes horses, donkeys, mules and zebras.
It is estimated that no more than 600 onagers remain in the wild.
Experts say the birth will shine a spotlight on ‘overlooked’ species and how zoos could prevent their extinction.
Chester is a leading part of a European-wide conservation breeding programme working to safeguard the species.
Related to the domestic donkey, the onager is an Asiatic wild ass, which lives in the semi-desert regions of Iran.
Similar wild asses were once found in abundance across the deserts of Mongolia, China and Iran, but now very few species remain, and onagers only survive in two small, protected areas in Iran.
They have suffered at the hands of illegal poaching, overgrazing, drought and disease passed from farm animals which has seen their numbers plummet by more than 50% in the past two decades alone, leaving just 600 in the wild today.
Mike Jordan, Animal and Plant Director at Chester Zoo, said: “Onagers are the most threatened equid species in the world and one of the rarest animals that we care for here at the zoo, so we’re absolutely delighted a new foal has been born – he’ll help to boost global numbers of this little-known species."
Once found in great numbers across the deserts of Asia from Mongolia and China to India and Iran, onagers are now found in just two protected areas and are listed as endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCNs) red list of threatened species
After suffering badly at the hands of illegal poaching, overgrazing and disease passed on from farm animals, there are believed to be around just 600 left in the wild and very few zoos in the world keep the species