60 STEPPE FAUNAS AND TEMPERATE 



kiang or wild ass {E. hemionus). The tarpan is now 

 limited to the regions of the steppe most remote from 

 human influence. Like its allies it goes about in small 

 troops under the leadership of an old male, and has 

 extraordinarily acute senses and great swiftness. In 

 winter its coat is so thick as to form a kind of fur, 

 and it obtains food by scraping away the snow from 

 the ground. It is almost uniform in coloration, and of 

 a dun colour. Prejevalski's horse is of a similar colour 

 above, but is almost white underneath. Such a dun 

 tint is common in steppe and desert animals, and is 

 doubtless protective. In the kiang there is a dark 

 stripe down the back, and traces of striping on the 

 limbs, but the body is of a uniform darkish colour, 

 instead of being striped as in the African zebras. The 

 kiang (see Fig. 16) inhabits the higher parts of the 

 steppes, and occurs at great heights in Tibet. 



Still another group of ungulates is represented in the 

 steppes by the Bactrian or two-humped camel (Camelus 

 bactrianus), which with its long hair, moderately short 

 legs, and hard feet is as well fitted for the hiUy and 

 rocky regions of the steppes, as is the one-humped 

 camel for the sandy deserts to the south. The animal 

 feeds largely upon the bitter saline plants of the steppes, 

 and will drink saline and brackish water, so that it is 

 a tjrpical inhabitant of the salt steppe. The two humps 

 allow for the storage of fat when the animal is well fed, 

 and thus permit it to withstand periods of semi-starva- 

 tion. Its appetite is, moreover, remarkably cathoHc, 

 for, according to Prejevalski, it will devour all sorts 

 of animal matter if vegetable food faUs. 



Taking antelopes, horses, and camel as representa- 

 tives of the ungulates of the steppes, we may pass on 

 to the consideration of the rodents, which are numerous 



