Lisa Koehlmoos, age 12, of Granville, Iowa, for her question:
WHAT IS AN ONAGER?
Onager is the name of a fast running animal which is related to0M the donkey. It is actually the wild ass that is mentioned in the Bible. A reference in the Bible that gives a good description of the beast is found in Job 39: 5 8.
"Who hath sent out the wild ass free or who bath loosed the bands of the wild ass? Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. The range of the mountainsis his pasture and he searcheth after every green thing."
The onager which is pronounced ahn uh jer lives in herds on the very hot, dry plains of west central Asia. Its color varies from yellow brown in the winter to a soft cinnamon brown in summer.
About four feet thigh at the shoulders, the onager has a thick mane and also a little tuft of hair at the end of its tail.
The onager is a member of the horse family Equide. Its genus is Equus and its species is hemionus, if you want to call it by its full scientific name.
A very closely related wild donkey is called the kiang. This beast is found in the wilds of Tibet and Mongolia.
And still another close relative is the wild ass of Ethiopia and northern Africa. It is this animal that is the ancestor of the common domestic donkey. This wild ass looks very much like a zebra but it does not have stripes.
Thousands of years ago the wild asses were domesticated by man. It was found that the animals were sturdier than horses and also much smaller. They did not require as much food as horses and they were very good workers.
Female donkeys give good milk that is often used by man. In northern Africa, Natives once kept donkeys in large herds for just this purpose.
A female donkey is called a jenny or a jennet. The young offspring is called a colt while the male is called a jack.
If a jack is mated with a mare or female horse, the animal that is born is a mule. A cross between a female donkey and a stallion or male horse is called a hinny.
Small donkeys are called burros and are often used as pack animals because they are extremely dependable and very sure footed.
The wild ass of North Africa is about the same size as the onager but its coat of hair is gray with a darker line along its back. Both animals can run swiftly.