354 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



100-102 E.). It has apparently disappeared from eastern Mon- 

 golia (including adjacent parts of Siberia and Manchuria). Wild 

 Asses throughout the world, with the apparent exception of the 

 Tibetan Kiang, are a vanishing type. 



The following is derived from Pallas's early description (1781, 

 pp. 16-17) , supplemented by Radde's description (1862, pp. 293-294) 

 of what were virtually topotypical specimens from the vicinity of 

 Dalai Nor: The general color of the summer pelage is reddish yellow, 

 with a slight grayish tinge; in winter the color is more reddish than 

 yellow, and the hair is longer. Snout whitish ; rest of head more and 

 more yellowish ; mane brownish ; lower side of the neck of the general 

 body color; upper rump ochraceous; limbs and ventral surface paler 

 than sides; posterior side of forelegs, inner side of hind legs, lower 

 rump, and posterior border of the thighs whitish ; a brownish-black 

 median dorsal stripe from the mane to the bushy part of the tail, 

 broadest on the hindquarters; bristly hairs above the hoofs blackish. 

 Height at shoulder, about 3 feet 10 inches; length of ears, about 7 

 inches; length of tail without hairy tuft, about 1 foot 4 inches. 



The former range apparently covered the greater part of Outer 

 Mongolia (except the present Tannu-Tuva) , small areas in Siberia 

 and Manchuria adjacent to the northeastern corner of Mongolia, at 

 least the western part of Inner Mongolia, and the northern part of 

 Chinese Turkestan (chiefly north of the Tian Shan) . 



According to Pallas (1781, pp. 5-8), the Argun steppes are the 

 only place where these animals are still met with in Siberia. From 

 the rest of Dauria, where they once ranged, they have retreated into 

 the Mongolian deserts, on account of settlements. They still swarm 

 about Tarei Nor. Formerly they were seen on the Argun steppes in 

 great herds, but now only as solitary individuals or in scattered 

 troops. On the Mongolian Gobi they occur in numerous herds. This 

 is a game animal for the Mongols and Steppe Tungus, who eat the 

 flesh and make boots of the hide. 



Radde writes (1862, p. 293) that in the fall and winter of 1856 a 

 strong northward migration extended to the region between Tarei 

 Nor and Dalai Nor, and that several animals were taken north of 

 Dalai Nor- (in northwestern Manchuria) . In a rare journal (Beitrage 

 Kenntniss Russ. Reiches, vol. 23, pp. 431-433) Radde gives addi- 

 tional information on life history, hunting, and economic uses. 



A dearth of recent records of Wild Asses in eastern Mongolia 

 bodes ill for their survival in that region. They are evidently gone 

 from the adjacent parts of Siberia and Manchuria. Arthur de C. 

 Sowerby (in Hit., March 14, 1938) believes they have ceased to 

 exist in all these areas. 



In 1887, in the region about the southern base of the eastern Altai, 



