The genus appears to have spread quickly into the Old World, with the similarly aged Equus livenzovensis documented from western Europe and Russia.

[4] Molecular phylogenies indicate the most recent common ancestor of all modern equids (members of the genus Equus) lived about 5.6 (3.9–7.8) million years ago (Mya).

[5] The oldest divergencies are the Asian hemiones (subgenus E. (Asinus), including the kulan, onager, and kiang), followed by the African zebras (subgenera E. (Dolichohippus), and E. (Hippotigris)).

[7] An even closer relative, however, may be the extinct Equus conversidens of Pleistocene America,[8] to which it bears a number of striking similarities; however, such a relationship would require kiangs to have crossed Beringia during the Ice Age, for which little evidence exists.

It occurs mostly in China, but about 2,500–3,000 kiangs are thought to inhabit the Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand regions of India, and smaller numbers along the northern frontier of Nepal.

They prefer relatively flat plateaus, wide valleys, and low hills, dominated by grasses, sedges, and smaller amounts of other low-lying vegetation.

This open terrain, in addition to supplying them with suitable forage absent in the more arid regions of central Asia, may make it easier for them to detect, and flee from, predators.

When little grass is available, such as during winter or in the more arid margins of their native habitat, kiangs have been observed eating shrubs, herbs, and even Oxytropis roots dug from the ground.

Older males are typically solitary, defending a territory of about 0.5 to 5 km2 (0.19 to 1.93 sq mi) from rivals, and dominating any local groups of females.

Territorial males sometimes become aggressive towards intruders, kicking and biting at them, but more commonly chase them away after a threat display that involves flattening the ears and braying.

[3] Natural historian Chris Lavers points to travellers' tales of the kiang as one source of inspiration for the unicorn, first described in Indika by the Ancient Greek physician Ctesias.

[11] Ekai Kawaguchi, a Japanese monk who traveled in Tibet from July, 1900 to June 1902, reported: As I have already said, khyang is the name given by the Tibetans to the wild horse of their northern steppes.

[12]Thubten Jigme Norbu, the elder brother of Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama, reporting on his trip from Kumbum Monastery in Amdo to Lhasa in 1950, wrote: The kyangs or wild asses, live together in smaller groups, each headed by a stallion, lording it over anything from 10 to 50 mares.

Their coat is light brown on the back and whitish below the belly, and their long, thin tails are almost black; the whole representing excellent camouflage against their natural background.