African origins of the domestic donkey.

We sampled across most of the Old World distribution of donkeys (see Table S1). Samples were collected only from small and remote countryside villages taking great care to sample unrelated individuals. From domestic asses, skin biopsies were collected and stored in 95% ethanol before DNA extraction. Fresh feces of three Equus africanus africanus were collected in Sudan from two different wild herds (21o08''N 36o20'E 20o46'N 36o49'E), and three Equus africanus somaliensis individuals were sampled in Berlin Friedrichsfelde Zoo (studbook 30, numbers 241, 365, 381). The African Nubian wild ass inhabits northeastern Sudan close to the Red Sea and the Eritrean border, whereas the African Somali wild ass is mainly present in Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea. Both wild African ass subspecies are considered critically endangered and are on the red list of the IUCN(1).