Onager
species of mammal
The onager (, ) (Equus hemionus), also known as hemione or Asiatic wild ass, is a species of the family Equidae native to Asia. A member of the subgenus Asinus, the onager was described and given its binomial name by German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas in 1775. Six subspecies are accepted.
The onager is reddish-brown or yellowish-brown and has a broad dorsal stripe on the middle of the back. It weighs about 200–260 kg (440–570 lb) and reaches about 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in) head-body length. It is among the fastest mammals, capable of running 64–70 km/h (40–43 mph).
The onager had a wider range from southwest and central to northern Asia including the Levant region, Arabian Peninsula, Afghanistan and Siberia; the prehistoric European wild ass subspecies ranged through Europe until the Bronze Age. During the early 20th century, it lost most of its range in the Middle East and Eastern Asia and lives today in Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, India, Mongolia and China. It inhabits deserts and arid regions, grasslands, plains, steppes, and savannahs. Like many other large grazing animals, its range has contracted greatly under the pressures of poaching and habitat loss.
“Onager” enters the record as species of mammal. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Onager, species and mammal can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Onager” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Onager, species and mammal provides the most credible route into that argument.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q180960. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1775.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.
- Current terminology
- Classification context
- Finding cited technical literature
Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Onager”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Onager primary sources, Onager archive and Onager research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Onager”?
- Has classification or technical consensus changed since the cited source?
- Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Onager” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.