The Feeding Habits of Asiatic Wild Ass (Equus hemionus hemionus) in Spring in Central Inner Mongolia
Combined the method of the micro histological analysis of feces and the fieidwork observation from March to May in both 2012 and 2013,the spring diet of the Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus hemionous) was investigated along the border of China-Mongolia in the center part of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region,PRC.Direct observation was employed to determine the species of plant fed by Asiatic wild ass,and micro histological analysis method was conducted to distinguished the spring diet of Asiatic wild ass from fresh fecal simples collected from the feeding sites of Asiatic wild ass.The appearing frequency F (％) of each plant in the combined fecal simples of Asiatic wild ass was calculated.The result was transfered into D (the average density of distinguish fragment in each visual field) by the formula F =100(1 -e-D),and then transfer into DR (related density =individual density of distinguish fragment / the sum of the densities of fragments × 100％).Additionally,the DR could be considered as the elements of composition of the herbaceous diet.The SPSS 13.0 soft ware was used to process the data.The result of micro histological analysis of feces showed that there are 45 species of plants belonging to 25 families in the spring diet of Asiatic wild ass in the center part of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.Specifically,the graminaceous plants (Gramineae) took 54.88％,chenopodiaceous plants (Chenopodiaceae) 17.37％,tamarisk (Tamaricaceae) 6.64％,and leguminous plants (Leguminosae) 6.52％ (Fig.2) were identified in the food composition of Asiatic wild ass in spring).While the primary plants consumed by the wild ass were as follows:Krylov needlegrass (Stipa krylovii) (24.38％),lovely achnatherum (Achnatherum splendens) (15.11％),salsola passerine (Salsola passerine) (9.92％),green bristlegrass herb (Setaria viridis) (6.97％),humifuse euphorbia herb (Reaumuria soongorica) (6.64％),bassia dasyphylla (Bassia dasyphylla) (5.67％),and scabrous cleistogenes (Kengia squarrosa) (5.10％),those plant species took the major part (73.79％) of the diet (Table 1).The spring diet of Asiatic wild ass in the center part of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region had high diversity.Less selection is the remarkable feature for the spring diet composition,which could be considered as the adoption of the Asiatic wild ass to the spring cold and drought situation in the area.
Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus hemionus)Food compositionSpringCentral Inner Mongolia
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
维普
