Donkeys | The Mules

History of Donkeys

After studying DNA samples from all over the world, scientists now believe that the Nubian subspecies of African wild ass in Northeast Africa are the ancestors of the modern Donkeys.

The findings suggested that the first two populations of the Nubian African wild ass were first raised by people 4000 B.C. During this domestication period these ancestors of the modern donkeys were scattered as they travel with people to different parts of the world.

Donkeys are considered to be an important pack animal for the inhabitants of the Nubian and Egyptian regions as they are mobile and very agile animals, they can also be used for dairy and farming duties.

Donkeys played a great role in establishing long distance trade routes across the Egyptian deserts. Even before the construction of the Great Pyramids, packs of Donkeys blazed a trail from Wadi Hammamat from the Nile Valley to the Red Sea to trade with Arabia .

As proven in the discovery of such archeological finds like the tomb of Dynasty IV (ca. 2675-2565 BC). Very powerful and rich people possessed droves of over a thousand donkeys.

As donkeys continue to spread out of the Nile Valley in Egypt , it reaches unto different habitable parts of the world. Soon donkeys are threading their path in Southwest Asia by the end of the 4000 B.C. Mesopotamia soon became the center of Wild Ass breeding by the time 1800 B.C. started.

Damascus, the city whose cuneiform writing discovered among its archeological finds suggests the great role of donkeys in its caravan trade became well known for its breeding of the large white riding ass.

Soon afterwards different breeds were developed. Among them are the Muscat asses in Arabia and another form of saddled breed in Syria .

By 2000 B.C. Donkeys were brought to the continent of Europe to be used in its sprawling industry called “viticulture”, which refers to its process of cultivating grapes with the purpose of manufacturing wines.

Donkeys were scattered along vast Greek colonies spanning France , Italy and Spain . Afterwards the Romans took the donkeys to every part of their large empire.

Donkeys first appeared in the “New World”, a term that refers to land of the Americas , when Christopher Columbus brought four males and two female donkeys which later on gave birth to the mules that the famed Conquistadores rode as they explored the rest of the Americas .

When America won their independence, President George Washington spearheaded the importation of the first jack mammoth breed of Donkeys from Spain and France . Most of the donkeys stand over 16 hands or 64 inches tall.

Donkeys were used widespread during the mining boom of the nineteenth century as miners and other gold rushers preferred donkeys to transport water, wood and other mining equipments to mining site across America .

But after the mining boom came the introduction of the railroad system as a form of transportation in America . Soon trains were used in transferring materials and the use for the donkeys greatly diminished.

Tracing its origins in the vast desert regions of Egypt , donkeys found no problem in roaming the equally large American deserts as they were turned loose and became of little value.

Modern day donkeys are still a popular animal in the United States , in the form of a recreational and companion animal donkeys are proven to be great pets and are used as pack animals in a lot of outdoor national parks that offers adventures in the wilderness. Donkeys today are being groomed to be a guard animal that protects flocks of sheep from other wild animals such as coyotes.

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What are the differences between Donkeys and Mules?

Many people question as to what the difference between a donkey and mule is. The differences are mainly physical, and can easily be seen from those who know what to look for.

When concerning species, the donkey itself is a species. The mule, however, is a direct result from a male donkey (jack) and female horse (mare) mating. Interestingly enough, mules can not reproduce, since they are in fact sterile. Donkeys, on the other hand, can reproduce at will.

As far as physical differences go, mules are usually slighter larger than donkeys. This makes sense, because mules are a result of a horse and donkey mating, and the mule inherits genes from both animals, including the horse’s height. Also, the donkey has a distinct bray, while the mule will have a combination between a whinny and a donkey bray.

As far as usage goes, mules can be used in any application that horses can. From sports, harnesses, cutting, or roping, the mule can do many things the donkey can not. Since the mule is a hybrid, it gets traits from the donkey and can carry more weight than a horse, and has much more stamina. Another interesting feature that mules have is their ability to jump- up to a few feet from standing still in place, much more than a horse could do.

Even though mules have much more uses than donkeys, the downfall is that they can not reproduce as a result from being sterile. The American Donkey and Mule Society claims donkeys outnumber mules about 10 to 1.

Even with all of these differences, one can easily mistake a mule and a donkey. With this guided knowledge, you should be able to now tell a donkey apart from a mule, which can prove very useful in many situations.

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