Offspring among the wild asses at Chemnitz Zoo
At the end of June, a female cub was born to the Somali wild asses at Chemnitz Zoo. The mother wild ass came to Chemnitz from a Spanish zoo in 2022. It is her first foal.
Mother and child and the second mare can be seen together in the outdoor enclosure, the stallion is currently still kept separately. Mothers and their young are the only stable social units in Somali wild asses. Adult stallions often live solitary lives.
The wild ancestors of the domestic donkeys are highly endangered. There are only a few individuals left in the wild in Ethiopia and Eritrea, and they have already disappeared from the rest of their original range. The main threats are hunting and limited access to water and food as well as hybridisation with domestic donkeys.
The captive population is also small, with only 271 Somali wild asses recorded in the International Stud Book worldwide, living in 62 facilities, only four of which are in Germany. This species has been kept at Chemnitz Zoo since 1997 and 18 foals have been born here since 2003. The zoo is thus successfully participating in the conservation breeding programme, and every breeding success is an important step towards the conservation of this species.
www.tierpark-chemnitz.de
Opening hours in summer:
| Zoo: | 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., last admission 6 p.m. |
| Game enclosure: | 9am to 6pm, last admission 5pm |