The African wild ass (Equus africanus) is the most endangered
wild equid in the world and is listed as a Critically
Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red list. Today, only relict
populations remain in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The current
Ethiopian population persists in the Danakil Desert at a
very low density. Wildlife managers need to identify the
extent of the remaining suitable habitat and understand
human–wildlife interactions for appropriate conservation
strategies. This study employed the maximum entropy
model (Maxent) to determine suitable habitat and seasonal
distribution of African wild ass in the Danakil Desert of
Ethiopia. Field surveys were conducted four times annually,
twice during the wet season and twice during the dry
season, for 2 years. Field data and predictor variables were
separated into the dry and wet seasons, and models were
generated for each season independently. Distance from
water, distance from settlements, herbaceous cover and
slope were the best predictors of suitable habitat for both
dry and wet seasons. Evaluations of model performances
were high with area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.94
and 0.95 for the dry and wet seasons, respectively. Our
results will be critical for identifying the available suitable
habitat that should be conserved to safeguard this species
from extinction