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What is an Onager?

Onagers are a mammal belonging to the Equus genus, and the Asinus subgenus.  They are known by the scientific name Equus Hemionus, and are found in Syria, Iran, Pakistan, India, Israel, and Tibet.  They belong to the horse family and are sometimes called the Asian Wild Ass.  The Onager is a grazing animal and its range has sharply declined through the direct and indirect actions of homosapien sapiens (us), with less wildlife and less forage to naturally find.  There are size subspecies of Onager, and one is now extinct. The Onager is larger than the donkey and are slightly more horse-like in appearance.  They have a history of domestication for kings and chariot pulling in Sumer dating back to 2600 BC, and 2000 BC respectively.  The subspecies of the Onager that are still living are the Mongolian Wild Ass, the Gobi Kulan (or Dziggetai), the Turkmenian Kulan, the Persian Onager, and the Indian Wild Ass (or Khur).  The extinct species is the Syrian Wild Ass, the very last one died in 1928 in a zoo.

The Mongolian subspecies of the Onager has been recently listed as Vulnerable since the 1990s saw a massive decline in their numbers.  The population is failing because of direct human actions, like poaching and competition from grazing livestock, since 1953 the Mongolian Wild Ass has been fully protected in Mongolia, and it is listed in the CITES in appendix I and II.  Even with full protection poaching for meat is on the rise as it is a cheap alternative to domesticated animal meat.  One of the other Onagers is the Indian Wild Ass, or khur, and it is vanishing in parts of India. At one point the population may have dipped below one thousand, but recent conservation efforts have helped bring them back from being close to the brink.

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Donkeys Definition

A donkey is a mammal in the genus Equus and subgenus asinus.  Donkeys are usually a meter to a meter and a half tall in the wild, while domesticated they can reach that height as well.  They are adapted and evolved to living in harsh desert weather conditions and their fur is not waterproof.  In the wild they do not live in herds, and are adept at hearing, eyesight, and sure footed walking.  The modern Donkey is descended from the Nubian donkey subspecies of the African Wild Ass, and it was domesticated around 4000 BCE. The donkey was an important animal for those who dwelled in Egypt and Nubia, as they easily carried 20-30% their own body wight and could be used for farming and as dairy animals.  By the 1800s BCE the donkey had reached the middle east and the city Damascus was nicknamed the “City of Asses” due to their prevalence.

By more modern times (1400s) the Donkey had reached the New World – Christopher Columbus brought four males and two females, who then begot the mules used by Spanish conquistadors in their conquests.  The donkey, however, did not become popular until the gold rush if the 1840’s and then the mining into mountains.  Once this happened, donkeys became the primary locomotion inside mines and hauled gold around for prospectors – along with their equipment.  Often times they did not need ropes because they were loyal to humans, having been domesticated nearly six thousand years earlier.  In the 20th century they became pets in the U.S. while still maintaining their work status in much of the world that was not yet industrialized – and in the U.S. miniature donkeys were bred and brought in the 1920s, cementing their status as a pet, and more recently a guard animal.   Due to human domestication and interaction there are 44 million donkeys today all over the world, with China holding 11 million, followed by Ethiopia and Mexico.

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Hinny Definition

A hinny is the opposite of a mule, where the mother (dam) is a donkey and the father (sire) is a horse.  It takes a long times and a lot of patience to even get one due to the donkey’s stubbornness to mate with a horse.  Many times they are created through artificial impregnation or other techniques. Hinnies are similar to mules in that they are pretty much healthier and requires less food due to the donkey’s adapted body and efficency in food consumption.  Hinnies are also smarter than horses and more cooperative than donkeys, much like mules.   However, hinnies are on average slightly smaller than mules and can only be as large as the dam (mother) which is a donkey, whereas a mule can be as big as a horse in some cases (since the mother of a mule is a horse).  They heads of hinnies often resemble the heads of horses more than mules do, and they have shorter ears.  They come in horse colors, and the sire often gives his coat to the hinny, thus making them more varied in coloration and variance.

Hinnies are difficult to produce because of the chromosomal difference from the mother is 62 and the father is 64 – which makes it more difficult to produce.  It is easier with a mule because the male father has 62 while the mother has 64, and it is usually more viable.  There have been no recorded cases of any fertile male hinnies, however there has been one single documented case of a fertile female hinny. Another reason that hinnies are so rare to find and conversely hard to produce is that the stallion male (the sire) is picky, and will often times not wish to mate with a donkey, and the donkey mare (the dam) is just as picky, if not more so, compounding the problem.

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Mules Definition

A mule is, in its usual meaning, an offspring from a male donkey and a female horse, while the reverse of such is called a hinny. The mule is easier to breed and larger in size than the hinny, and usually the chromosomal match up is better when it is a male donkey and female horse – producing a unique offspring.  They are almost always sterile, however there have been a few rare cases where mules and hinnies have been able to produce offspring of one type or another.  Donkeys have a total of 62 chromosomes, and horses have 64 – the offspring have 63 and cannot divide evenly, which renders them sterile in almost all cases.   The mule has long ears, short thick heads, thin limbs, small hooves, and a short mane; it also does not sound like a donkey, nor does it sound like a horse.  There are many coats, depending on the sire and the dam.

In behavior the mule has the same tendencies as the donkey with its patience, endurance, and agility in being sure footed, making it excellent in hard or more unstable terrain – however it lacks the fear and weaknesses of the donkey, rather it has more strength and is bolder.  Thier hooves are stronger, and they go lame much less often, and are resistant to disease in comparison with the horse.  They also don’t like dogs quite as much as horses do, and are capable of defending themselves or their rider against a number of predators – with recorded numerous kills against mountain lions.  They also can fire off a kick in any direction they wish to with great accuracy, and can be lethal.  There have been only sixty documented cases of fertile mules in four hundred years, and one cloned mule.

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What is a Hotblood?

Hotbloods are known to be highly sensitive horses with a very well developed sense of awareness, acute eyesight, and very great athleticism and energy.  They are originated from the Arabian horse.  Thoroughbred horses were a derivative of the Arabian horse by infusing them with European cavalry horses, creating the next hotblood breed that were lighter and stronger.  True hotbloods provide greater challenges and rewards for riders, their intelligence and senses enable them to learn things extremely quickly and learn with better communication that their slower more mundane cousins in the coldbloods, however these traits have been carried over to the warmbloods.  Because of their intelligence they can quickly develop bad habits along with good ones, and have a very low tolerance of any poor riders or trainers, as they do know when you are messing up or doing a bad job.

The Arabian hotblood is a horse known for extremely high intelligence, very good stamina, and has a high tail carriage, and ranges in all colors.  It is one of the oldest horse breeds in existence today, and evidence shows that they could be as old as four thousand years.  Throughout the history of the ancient world Arabian horses were used, and bloodlines of Arabian horses are found in almost every warmblood and hotblood alive today.  It was a desert horse, and still is, and in ancient times was highly prized, so prized it was often brought into the tent with the nomads who kept them to keep them safe.  The close relationship with human handler throughout its history has created a good working relationship between the horse and man, much like the dog has become man’s best friend, the Arabian might be man’s best horse.

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