few hundred individuals left in the wild. These animals are also hunted for food and for traditional medicine in both Ethiopia and Somalia. Competition with domestic livestock for grazing, and restricted access to water supplies caused by agricultural developments, pose further threats to the survival of this species. The African wild ass is legally protected in the countries where it is currently found, although these measures often prove difficult to enforce. A protected population of the Somali wild ass exists in the Yotvata Hai-Bar Nature Reserve in Israel, to the north of Eilat. This reserve was established in 1968 with the view to bolster populations of endangered desert species. Populations of horses and asses are fairly resilient and, if the species is properly protected, it may well recover from its current low. In captivity There are about 150 individual Somali wild asses living in zoos around the globe, of which 36 were born at Zoo Basel, where this species' breeding program started with Basel's first Somali wild asses in 1970 and the first birth in 1972. Zoo Basel manages the European studbook for the Somali wild ass and coordinates the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP). All European wild donkeys are either descendants of the original group at Zoo Basel or of 12 others that came from the Yotvata Hai-Bar Nature Reserve in Israel in 1972. See also Endangered species Fauna of Africa Feral donkeys in Australia Asiatic wild ass References This article incorporates CC BY-3.0 text from the reference. Notes External links African Wild Ass at ARKive Wild Equids Profile at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Species African Wild Ass - Equus africanus at the IUCN/SSC Equid Specialist Group Equus asinus, in Don E. Wilson & DeeAnn M. Reeder (editors). 2005. . A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed), Johns Hopkins University Press, 2,142 pp. . Asinus Equines of Africa Fauna of East Africa Fauna of the Horn of Africa Mammals of Sudan Mammals of Ethiopia EDGE species Critically endangered fauna of Africa African wild ass Taxa named by Theodor von Heuglin Mammals of Eritrea bg:Нубийско диво магаре