Kalamaili Mountains National Park

A vast expanse of desert covering 6 counties at the eastern edge of the GurbantlinggUt Desert in the Juggar Basin, Xinjiang, the northwest border of China, the Kalamaili Mountains National Park offers a good home to Mongolian wild ass and a number of other hoofed Animals. With 1.73 million hectares of habitat stretching 100 kilometers long from the east to the west, and 20-40 kilometers wild from the south to the north, ranging from the burning desert floor to snowy mountains, this park is the largest national wildlife refuge in China so far. The unique natural landscape fits well the endemic natural inhabitants. Wildlife abounds in the park. Wild ass, wild sheep and many other hoofed animals find this area to their liking. Best known are the Mongolian wild ass and wild sheep for which the park was established.

With broad flat deserts between the gently sloping low mountains and hills, the park is accented by the Kalamaili Mountains that tower 1,472 meters above sea level in the center. It is extremely dry at the most part of its area, except some water sources only in the east, and some big ponds and ditches conserving stagnant waters from rainfalls in summertime in the west. These watery ponds act as a magnet for the wildlife in the arid, inhospitable environment. Accumulated snow affords the only water supply for the wild ass from wintertime through springtime. This extreme climate here supports very poor vegetation. Half of the park is sparsely populated with vegetation, almost no vegetation on the south of the mountains, except the north of the mountains where it is sparsely covered with anabasis, saxoul (Haloxylon ammodendron) and other low-growing lean desert plants.

The park remains unsullied by human development and offers a chance at great stretches of solitude.

The Mongolian wild ass, the most important denizen and a common roadside grazer in the park, is completely adaptable to these harsh conditions because the vast territory, the flat terrain between the low mountains and hills as well as the absence of tall plants offer an excellent natural track for the wild ass, which is a wellknown long-distance runner.

Mongolian wild ass is not the forbear of the domesticated donkey though it has a strong physical resemblance to the domesticated donkey, and it has had hybridization with the later. In some aspects, it is superior than the domesticated donkey. Its shaggy neck and back, red-brown in summertime but grey-brown in wintertime on its upper body, white on its lower body, and a long tail make it quite different from the domesticated donkey. An adult Mongolian wild ass measures a little longer than 2 meters, and stands 1.28 meters high at the shoulders. It makes mating between July and September, and female ass gives birth between next May and June, having 11 months of gestation.It can mate with the domesticated horse, producing fine offsprings; and it can serve as a wonderful pack animal particularly in the desert regions.

As one of the fleet-footed animals and one of the world's fastest mammals, it is an outstanding high-speed runner, reaching normal speed of 45 kilometers per hour and 60 kilometers per hour for sustained galloping. A constant denizen higWy adaptable to the extreme conditions in the arid regions, the Mongolian wild ass wanders around the roads, and travels several days without drinking water. Feeding on the different varieties of grasses, it can survive and even thrive on the coarse desert forage.

The Mongolian wild ass had once been common in China's northwest arid and semi-arid regions a long time ago. Unfortunately, now it can be sighted only in the remote grasslands and desert regions of Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Gansu and Tibet. Habitat shrinkage and diminution caused by its natural enemies and human threats have reduced its population, leaving only less than 500 survivors in this park according to the 1982 aerial survey, which is the largest population in existence of this majestic animal, whose numbers were once close to extinction. It is, therefore, one of China's rarest key animals at the first level of state protection. Wild ass is a common sight in this park, seeing wild ass is a highlight of a park visit though viewed from a distance.