Around 12,000 years ago, a diversity of horses and their kin (known as equids) roamed North and South America. These animals were hunted by large, mythical-sounding, now-extinct predators, such as saber-toothed cats and dire ...
Ecology
Jul 28, 2022
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Donkeys are not as able to keep warm as horses in the UK's cold, damp winters, according to a new study.
Plants & Animals
Nov 16, 2017
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For thousands of years, horses and donkeys have been some of our species' most important partners.
Plants & Animals
Apr 29, 2021
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Nothing I've read about the Baudet du Poitou donkeys prepares me for my first sight of them. They are girthy, with massive round bellies and oversized ears that swoop forward and back, sometimes independently of one another. ...
Veterinary medicine
Jun 3, 2022
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We might associate donkeys with Christmas, but new research from the University of Portsmouth shows the animals are keener on hotter periods of the year.
Plants & Animals
Dec 17, 2019
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A team of researchers from Denmark, Malaysia, France and the U.K. has conducted a genome assembly of the donkey to learn more about its evolutionary history. In their paper published on the open access site Science Advances, ...
Darwin referred to the origin of species as "that mystery of mysteries," and even today, more than 150 years later, evolutionary biologists cannot fully explain how new animals and plants arise.
Plants & Animals
Sep 2, 2013
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Despite transforming history as beasts of burden essential for transporting goods and people, the humble donkey has long been woefully understudied.
Archaeology
Sep 10, 2022
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A noblewoman from Imperial China enjoyed playing polo on donkeys so much she had her steeds buried with her so she could keep doing it in the afterlife, archaeologists found. This discovery by a team that includes Fiona Marshall, ...
Archaeology
Mar 16, 2020
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The identity of a mysterious breed of "horse" which has baffled experts since its remains were uncovered at Pompeii has been resolved by a Cambridge University researcher – who realised it was a donkey.
Biochemistry
Nov 3, 2010
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The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E. africanus. In the western United States, a small donkey is sometimes called a burro (from the Spanish word for the animal).
A male donkey or ass is called a jack, a female a jenny, and an offspring less than one year old a foal (male: colt, female: filly).
While different species of the Equidae family can interbreed, offspring are almost always sterile. Nonetheless, horse/donkey hybrids are popular for their durability and vigor. A mule is the offspring of a jack (male donkey) and a mare (female horse). The much rarer successful mating of a male horse and a female donkey produces a hinny.
Asses were first domesticated around 3000 BC, or 4000 BC, probably in Egypt or Mesopotamia, and have spread around the world. They continue to fill important roles in many places today. While domesticated species are increasing in numbers, the African wild ass and another relative, the Onager, are endangered. As "beasts of burden" and companions, asses and donkeys have worked together with humans for millennia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
