Kiang

Thursday, April 19, 2012

  
The Life of Animals | Kiang | The Kiang is the largest of the wild ass, with an average shoulder height of 13.3 hands (55 inches, 140 inches). Kiang has very little sexual dimorphism, with males weighing 350 to 400 kg (770 to 880 pounds), while the females 250 to 300 kg (550 to 660 pounds) in weight. The fur is a rich chestnut brown, dark brown in the winter and a sleek reddish brown in late summer, when the animal molts its woolly fur. The summer coat is 1.5 centimeters long and the winter coat is twice as long. A broad, dark chocolate-colored dorsal stripe extends from the end of the mane to the tail ends in a tuft of black hair brown The Eastern Kiang is the largest subspecies, the Southern Kiang is the smallest. The Kiang West is slightly smaller than the eastern and also has a dark coat.

Kiang inhabit alpine meadows and steppes Country 2700-5300 meters (8900 ft and 17,400) in height. They prefer relatively flat plateaus, wide valleys and rolling hills, dominated by grasses, sedges and small amounts of other low-lying vegetation. If there is little grass available, such as during winter or in the drier edges of their natural habitat, they were observed to eat shrubs, herbs, roots and even Oxytropis, dug from the ground. Kiang defend by forming a circle and throw out violently with his head down. As a result wolves usually attack single animals who have removed from the group. Kiang occasionally congregate in large herds, which may be numbered several hundred persons. Older males are usually solitary defend a territory of about 0.5 to 5 square kilometers (0.19 to 1.9 square miles) of rivals, and dominated all local groups of women.


Kiang link between late July and late August, when around older men's reproductive females rather trot around them, and then chasing them prior to mating. Foals weigh up to 35 kg (77 lb) at birth, and are able to walk within a few hours. Kiang live up to 20 years in the wilderness. The Kiang is closely associated with the onager (Equus hemionus) used in some classifications it is considered a subspecies of E. hemionus kiang. Kiang can onager, horses, donkeys, and zebras crossing to Burchell's in captivity, though, as mules, the resulting offspring are sterile. Kiang has never been domesticated.