Kiang

The kiang (Equus kiang) is the largest of the Asinus subgenus. It is native to the Tibetan Plateau in Ladakh India, northern Pakistan, Tajikistan, China and northern Nepal. It inhabits montane grasslands and shrublands. Other common names for this species include Tibetan wild ass, khyang and gorkhar.

Description

left|thumb|Kiang of [[Tibet from The Great and Small Game of India, Burma, and Tibet (1900)]]

The kiang is the largest of the wild asses, with an average height at the withers of . They range from high at the withers, with a body long, and a tail of . Kiangs have only slight sexual dimorphism, with the males weighing from , while females weigh . They have a large head, with a blunt muzzle and a convex nose. The mane is upright and relatively short. The coat is a rich chestnut colour, darker brown in winter and a sleek reddish brown in late summer, when the animal moults its woolly fur. The summer coat is long and the winter coat is double that length. The legs, underparts, end of the muzzle, and the inside of the ears are all white. A broad, dark chocolate-coloured dorsal stripe extends from the mane to the end of the tail, which ends in a tuft of blackish brown hairs.

Genomics

A telomere-to-telomere chromosome-level genome assembly of Equus kiang was published in 2026. The assembled genome size is approximately 2.48 Gb, with 96.85% of the sequence anchored to 27 pseudochromosomes. The assembly showed a BUSCO completeness of 96.7%, and 20,654 protein-coding genes were predicted. The genome provides a resource for studies of chromosome evolution, speciation, and genomic architecture in Equidae.

Evolution

The genus Equus, which includes all extant equines, is believed to have evolved from Dinohippus, via the intermediate form Plesippus. One of the oldest species is Equus simplicidens, described as zebra-like with a donkey-shaped head. The oldest fossil to date is about 3.5 million years old from Idaho, US. The genus appears to have spread quickly into the Old World, with the similarly aged Equus livenzovensis documented from western Europe and Russia.

Molecular phylogenies indicate the most recent common ancestor of all modern equids (members of the genus Equus) lived about 5.6 (3.9–7.8) million years ago (Mya). Direct paleogenomic sequencing of a 700,000-year-old middle Pleistocene horse metapodial bone from Canada implies a more recent 4.07 Mya for the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) within the range of 4.0 to 4.5 Mya. The oldest

thumb|Skull of Equus kiang held at World Museum, National Museums Liverpool (NML-VZ 1982.1100)

Taxonomy

The kiang is closely related to the onager (Equus hemionus), and in some classifications it is considered a subspecies, E. hemionus kiang. Molecular studies indicate that kiangs are nested deeply within the extant radiation of E. hemionus. Based on a 1967 morphological study the two are considered separate species by the IUCN as of 2026. Morphological evidence suggested that this species was a close relative of the asian wild asses, but molecular evidence shows that the two groups are widely separated.

Distribution and habitat

thumb|Wild kiang in [[Changtang]]

right|thumb|A small group of Kiangs in the vicinity of [[Tso Moriri Lake]]

The kiang is distributed from the Kunlun Mountains in the north, the Tibetan Plateau to the Himalayas in the south. It occurs mostly in China, but about 2,500–3,000 kiangs are thought to inhabit the Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand regions of India. In Pakistan they have been found in the Khunjerab National Park in the Karakoram and Pamir. There are also smaller numbers along the northern frontier of Nepal.

Kiang herds inhabit alpine meadows and steppe country between elevation. They prefer relatively flat plateaus, wide valleys, and low hills, dominated by grasses, sedges, and smaller amounts of other low-lying vegetation. This open terrain, in addition to supplying them with suitable forage absent in the more arid regions of central Asia, may make it easier for them to detect, and flee from, predators.

Behavior and ecology

The kiang is a herbivore, feeding on grasses and sedges, especially Stipa, but also on other plants such as bog sedges, true sedges, and meadow grasses. When little grass is available, such as during winter or in the more arid margins of their native habitat, kiangs have been observed eating shrubs, herbs, and even Oxytropis roots dug from the ground. Although they do sometimes drink from waterholes, such sources of water are rare on the Tibetan Plateau, and they likely obtain most of their water from the plants they eat, or possibly from snow in winter.

Ekai Kawaguchi, a Japanese monk who traveled in Tibet from July, 1900 to June 1902, reported:

right|thumb|Kiangs at the [[Prague Zoo]]

Thubten Jigme Norbu, the elder brother of Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama, reporting on his trip from Kumbum Monastery in Amdo to Lhasa in 1950, wrote: