The Riders of The Rann- Indian Wild Ass

The people of western India calls desert as "the Rann" which means barren land with no productivity or the remnants of a destroyed land. It is very hard to imagine life and its growth in such an area. The Rann of Kachchh is "a desolate area, sun baked and saline clay desert shimmering with the image of perpetual mirage". The Rann of Kachchh is divided into two parts known as Great Rann of Kachchh (GRK) and Little Rann of Kachchh (LRK).

The Indian wild ass is considered as a flagship species in LRK to conserve the biodiversity of the landscape. It has been observed that the wild ass uses all the important habitat types such as grassland and scrubland which are being used by several other species of mammals, birds, etc. While we are concentrating our efforts to conserve the habitat of wild ass, we are conserving the habitats of other important species like hyena, wolf, chinkara, black buck, etc. as well. This is the key role of Indian wild ass following which the entire landscape and its biodiversity could be conserved.

The scientific name of Indian Wild Ass is Equus hemionus khur. It is a sub-species of Asian Wild Ass i.e., Equus hemionus.

IUCN gaveIndian WildAss Endangered status and it is protected as Schedule-I species under Wildlife Protection Act (1972). The Indian WildAss is a strong and majestic animal whose range once extended from Southern India towards southern Pakistan (i.e. provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan), Afghanistan and south-eastern Iran. Now, we have world’s last population of Indian WildAss restricted within their last refuge of Indian desert called Rann of Kachchh.

The major population of Indian WildAss is in Little Rann of Kachchh and the area is declared as WildAss Sanctuary having an area of 4953.70 Sq.km.

The harsh climate and dynamic nature of the landscape couples with the vast barren land offers multiple challenges towards the survival of the WildAss. During 1958-60, the species become a victim of a disease called Surra caused by Trypanosoma evansi and suffered a dramatic decline in their population. Since then the species regained its strength and showing a continuous increase in population.

Census of Wild Ass

To know the distribution range and pattern of the species, the impact of various factors and management practices adopted during the recent years, as well as to adopt appropriate management strategy; it is crucial to conduct the exercise of the species at regular interval of the time. The population estimation of Indian Wild Ass is carried out at the interval of every five years. Lastly, the 8th Indian Wild Ass Population Estimation was carried out during year 2014 over15000 sq. kilometerarea.

The Little Rann of Kuchchh is constituted of five different districts which categorized under above three regions. District wise population of wild ass is given below,

Habitats of Wild Ass

There are four major habitat types which are being utilized by Indian Wild Ass. They are,

• Scrubland: Dominated by Prosopis juliflora. On the basis of the density of P. juliflora it was further classified as scrub-dense, scrub-medium and scrub-low,
• Fallow land and cropland,
• Grassland, including Sueda species and herbaceous cover,
• Rann

Indian Wild Ass is a generalist grazer which predominantly feeds on grasses but during summer when grasses are scanty and dried they used to feed on Prosopis pods and leaves. In irrigated areas where crop cultivation continues in summer, they have been observed raiding and feeding on crops such as cotton, seasum, grains and pulses.

Worldwide species

There are three species of wild ass, one in Africa and two in Asia (Equus hemionus and E. kiangs). Two species of Asian wild asses are further classified into eight surviving subspecies i.e. five of E. hemionus and three of E. kiangs. Ten surviving subspecies of wild asses (eight Asian and two African) are in different stages of endangerment. They are North Mongolian wild ass (Equus hemionus hemionusPallas, 1775); Gobian wild ass (E. h. luteus); Kulan (E. h. kulan) living in Mongolia, China and south-west Siberia; the Indian wild ass (E. h. khur Lesson, 1827) in India; the Persian onager (E. h. onager Bodart, 1785) or Ghorkhar in Iran, Turk Menistan and possibly Afghanistan; and the three subspecies of Kiangs which are E. k. kiang Moorcraft, 1841; E. k. holclereri and E. k. polyodon in India, Bhutan, Tibet and Szechaun regions of China (Shah, 1993 and Ranjitsinhji, 1998).

Threats to Wild Ass

There is no major threat to the wild ass population like poaching and killing in Little Rann of Kuchchh. There is no natural predator also to maintain its population growth. From the previous decade we could observe a steady growth in wild ass population, which surplus the carrying capacity inside the Wild Ass Sanctuary following the grazing pressures from livestock. They are almost equally spreading across the agrarian landscape resulting into conflict issues with the farmers of the region.

As a member of the horse family (Equidae),the WildAss is also known for its phenomenal strength and stamina. This strong animal is capable of galloping at a top speed of 70-80 km per hour. Without looking at its Wilderness at its own habitat it is not possible to judge the beauty and strength of this species. The Indian WildAss has the ability to withstand extreme climatic conditions including temperature variation ranging from 1° Celsius to 50° Celsius. The area has the highest annual evaporation rate in the country, which resulted into a severe scarcity of palatable water for Wild animals inside Rann. With all these limitations and challenges the Indian WildAss has come up with a steady growth in their population.

Importance/Significations of Wild Ass

Rann Vegetation Types

• Rann saline thorn forest.
• Salvadora spp. scrub.
• Saline/alkaline scrub.
• Cassia auriculata scrub and Euphorbia scrub.
• Sueda nudiflora and Aleuropus grassland.

LRK Landscape was once a part of the Arabian sea (Background)

• Mixture of Sea water and Fresh water(brackish water)
• No river is able to cross the desert
• Unique Biodiversity of LRK
• Spread in five dist. fringe and core areas.

Little Rann of Kutch(LRK) Landscape – One of Globally unique landscapes

Map of LRK showing adjoining districts

Ecological Importance

The population trend of Indian wild ass is significant to know the condition of its habitat. Indian wild ass is predominantly a grassland species which mainly feeds on grasses. To maintain a healthy population we need to ensure its habitat in prosperous condition. It’s a measure which could help us in protecting other grassland species like rodents, small birds, etc. The uniqueness of LRK is surprising to witness during monsoon. This is the time when the entire Rann area stays inundated for 2 to 3 months and the highlands inside the vast mud flat terrain become the breeding ground for Indian wild ass. And these highlands which are called "beyt" are ecologically very important towards the breeding population of Indian wild ass and migratory birds and many other species which take shelter in those beyts. Thus we can call Indian wild ass as the "Guardian of the Rann".