chennai three years after a pair of wild asses arrived from chakkarbagh zoo in gujarat the first wild ass foal was born in vandalur zoo in a secluded corner of their enclosure on monday zoo director kssvp reddy told toi that the pair took time to mate as the jenny female ass was not mature when it arrived at the zoo moreover they were accustomed to living in open areas close to salt pans in the rann of kutch in gujarat whereas their enclosure in the zoo was an undulating terrain covered with rocks and bushes this made the pair more uncomfortablein their natural habitat wild asses cover a long distance by running and walking with such a healthy habit their reproductive system functions normally however in the zoo with no space to move around freely the animals put on weight and their reproductive system was not functioning normally not working normally when this was taken to the notice of zoo managers last year zoo managers swung into action bylevelled the ground cleared the bushes and removed the rocks within their enclosure a track was also laid for them to run and walk around this facilitated the pair to mate and a female foal was born on monday reddy said indian wild ass is found to live in the salt deserts near the arabian sea in rann of kutchch once upon a time the home range of wild ass was extended up to north india south pakistan afghanisthan and south east iran now their population is restricted only to rann of kutchch in gujarat and a small area in rajasthan with their natural habitats being converted in to saltpans and competition for feed in the form of cattle posed a major threat to the very survival of this species apart from that the wild ass were facing the problem of a diseaseas called kharra which made their survival a big question mark reddy saidwild ass has been brought under the schedule i of the wildlife protection act anyone involved in the trading of its body parts or skin will be punished with a penalty and imprisonment the international union for conservation of natural flora and fauna has categorised the animal under near threatened category lifespan of a wild ass in captivity is estimated between 25 to 30 years and in the wild it is 20 years reddy added