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| Donkey | |
|---|---|
_at_Disney%27s_Animal_Kingdom_(16-01-2005).jpg)
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| Conservation status | |
| Template:StatusDomesticated | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Equidae |
| Genus: | Equus |
| Species: | E. asinus |
| Binomial name | |
| Equus asinus Linnaeus, 1758 | |
The donkey or ass, Equus asinus, is a domesticated animal of the horse family, Equidae.
Etymology
The word donkey (and its equivalent, ass) is one of the most etymologically obscure in the English language. Until quite recent times, the standard word was ass, also known as purvi, which has clear cognates in most other Indo-European languages. No credible cognate for donkey has yet been identified, though it is possible that it is a diminutive of dun (dull greyish-brown), a typical donkey colour; and originally, "donkey" was pronounced to rhyme with monkey.
In the late 18th century, the word donkey started to replace ass, almost certainly to avoid confusion with the word arse, which, due to sound changes that had affected the language, had come to be pronounced the same way (/æs/ > /ɑ:s/ and /ɑ:rs/ > /ɑ:s/). The /ɑ:s/ pronunciation of ass was eventually restored to /æs/ in order to reserve the distinction, but not without the curious consequence of American English losing the word arse entirely and assigning its meaning to ass.
The incorporation of horse into sawhorse, referring to a wooden frame which supports work in progress, can be compared to the donkey-related etymology of the English word easel, from the Dutch ezel and German Esel. In both languages, the word refers to both the animal, and to an easel (as in painter's easel) as well.
Economic use
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Domestication of the donkey circa 4000 BC is credited to predynastic Egypt (see Domestication). In particular, the donkey has been cited as the most probable beast of burden employed enroute between the First dynasty of Egypt (and perhaps earlier) and turquoise mining camps in the Sinai Peninsula (see Sinai Peninsula), as mention of the dromedary in Ancient Egypt does not appear until far later in the early 2nd millennium BC (see ).
Donkeys were also used in the prehistoric eras of Europe and western Asia, for pulling carts and carrying loads (including riders). Though not as fast as horses, donkeys are long-lived, cheaper to maintain, have great endurance, and are agile on poor tracks. They remain of crucial economic importance in many developing countries.
Donkeys have a reputation for stubbornness, but this is due to some handlers' misinterpretation of their highly-developed sense of self preservation. It is difficult to force or frighten a donkey into doing something it sees as contrary to its own best interest, as opposed to horses who are much more willing to, for example, go along a path with unsafe footing.
Although formal studies of their behaviour and cognition are rather limited, donkeys appear to be quite intelligent, cautious, friendly, playful, and eager to learn. They are many times fielded with horses due to a perceived calming effect on nervous horses. If a donkey is introduced to a mare and foal, the foal will often turn to the donkey for support after it has left its mother.
Once a person has earned their confidence they can be willing and companionable partners in work and recreation. For this reason, they are now commonly kept as pets in countries where their use as beasts of burden has disappeared. They are also popular for giving rides to children in holiday resorts or other leisure contexts.
In prosperous countries, the welfare of donkeys both at home and abroad has recently become a concern, and a number of sanctuaries for retired donkeys have been set up.
Types of donkeys
Domestic donkey breeds
An incomplete list of domestic donkey breeds includes the:
- Mammoth Donkey
- Poitou Donkey
The Poitou Donkey breed was developed in France for the sole purpose of producing mules. It is a large donkey breed with a very long shaggy coat and no dorsal stripe.
Burro
The Spanish brought burros to North America beginning in the late fifteenth century. These burros were used as pack animals, but also for riding and pulling carts. These pack animals were prized for their hardiness in arid country and became the beast of burden of choice by early prospectors in the Southwest United States. The wild burros on the western rangelands descend from burros that escaped, were abandoned, or were freed.
Wild burros in the United States are protected by Public Law 92-195, The Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971. These animals, considered to be a living legacy, have lately been at risk due to drought. The Bureau of Land Management conducts round-ups of endangered herds, and holds public auctions. More information can be obtained from U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management.
Wild burros make good pets when treated well and cared for properly. They are clever and curious. When trust has been established, they appreciate, and even seek, attention and grooming.
Donkey hybrids
A male donkey (jack) can be crossed with a female horse to produce a mule. A male horse can be crossed with a female donkey (jennet or jenny) to produce a hinny. This is North American nomenclature; in the United Kingdom, the word hinny is not used. A female donkey in the U.K. is called a mare, and the word jennet is applied only to the offspring of a female donkey and a male horse, regardless of whether the foal is female or male.
Horse-donkey hybrids are almost always sterile because horses have 64 chromosomes whereas donkeys have 62, producing offspring with 63 chromosomes. Due to different mating behavior, jacks are often more willing to cover mares than stallions are to breed jennets. Mules are much more common than hinnies. This is believed to be caused by two factors, the first being proven in cat hybrids, that when the chromosome count of the male is the higher, fertility rates drop (as in the case of stallion x jennet). The lower progesterone production of the jennet may also lead to early embryonic loss. Although it is commonly believed that mules are more easily handled and also physically stronger than hinnies, making them more desirable for breeders to produce, it is simply that mule are more common in total number.
The offspring of a zebra-donkey cross is called a zonkey, zebroid, zebrass, or zedonk, according to the American Donkey and Mule Society. Zebra mule is an outdated term. The foregoing terms generally refer to hybrids produced by breeding a male zebra to a female donkey. Zebra hinny, zebret and zebrinny all refer to the cross of a female zebra with a male donkey. Zebrinnies are rarer than zedonkies because female zebras in captivity are most valuable when used to produce full-blooded zebras. There are not enough female zebras breeding in captivity to spare them for hybridizing; there is no such limitation on the number of female donkeys breeding.
For at least the past century, a few donkeys and burros in Mexico have been painted with white stripes to amuse the tourist trade. These are not hybrids.
An animal which may look like a zebra-donkey hybrid because of its distinctly striped hindquarters and hind legs is the okapi, which has no relationship to either of those species. Okapi are most closely related to the giraffe. In addition to the rear stripes, okapi have some striping near the top of their forelegs.
Wild Ass, Onager, and Kiang
With domestication of almost all donkeys, few species now exist in the wild. Some of them are the African Wild Ass (Equus africanus) and its subspecies Somalian Wild Ass (Equus africanus somaliensis). The Asiatic wild ass or Onager, Equus hemionus, and its relative the Kiang, Equus kiang, are closely related wild species.
There was another extinct subspecies called the Yukon Wild Ass (Equus asinus lambei). In the wild the asses can reach top speeds equalling zebras and even most horses.
Cultural references
The long history of human use of donkeys means that there is a rich store of cultural references to them.
Religion and myth
- The ass may have been the symbol of the Egyptian god, Seth
- Several were buried in Hor-Aha's tomb
- The ass was a symbol the Greek god Dionysus, particularly in relationship to his companion, Silenus.
- Greek mythology includes the story of King Midas who judged against Apollo in favor of Pan during a musical contest, and had his ears changed to those of a donkey as punishment.
- There are numerous references to donkeys (chomor) in the Hebrew Bible, including a talking donkey (Numbers 22:23-30) and the hero Samson slaying Philistines with the jawbone of an ass (Judges 15:13-17). Additional references can be found at Deuteronomy 22:10, Job 11:12, Proverbs 26:3 and elsewhere.
- The gospels have Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem (Mark 11:1 in which colt refers to a donkey colt) and Mary riding a donkey while pregnant. These beliefs have given rise to legends explaining the origin of the cross on a donkey's shoulders.
Fable and folklore
- European folklore also claims that the tail of a donkey can be used to combat whooping cough or scorpion stings.
- An Indian tale has an ass dressed in a panther skin give himself away by braying.
- One of Aesop's fables has an ass dressed in a lion skin who gives himself away by braying.
Proverb and idiom
- A German proverb claims a donkey can wear a lion suit but its ear will still stick out and give it away.
- English proverbs include "better be the head of an ass than the tail of a horse", "if an ass goes a-traveling, he'll not come back a horse", and "better ride on an ass that carries me home than a horse that throws me" (though all these are now obsolete).
- Classical Greek expressions about donkeys included: onos pros eortēn = "a donkey at the festival" (gets all the work); onos hyetai = "a donkey is rained on" (i.e. he is unaffected or insensitive), onos pros phatnēn = "a donkey at a feed trough" (like the English expression "in clover").
Insult and vulgarity
- The donkey has long been a symbol of ignorance. Examples can be found in Aesop's Fables, Apuleius's The Golden Ass (The Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius) and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Because of its connection with ignorance, in modern slang, referring to someone as a dumbass means that they are unintelligent. Many people would find this term vulgar and rude.
- In contrast, to refer to someone as a jackass in modern slang provides a connotation of being obnoxious, rude, and thoughtless, with or without the added connotation of stupidity. This usage is also considered vulgar. A less vulgar substitute is donkey itself, as in, "Ben Shoe is such a donkey; he dances to Abba's "Dancing Queen" in his underwear."
- The unmodified word ass has entered common use in the English language as a term used to describe a person who resembles a donkey in some way, such as appearance, stubbornness, foolishness, etc.
- In football, especially in the United Kingdom, a player who is considered unskilful, and to rely overly on his physical attributes to cover up his technical shortcomings, is often dubbed a "donkey."
- Term for bad poker players that play hands when the odds are against them. "Wayne is such a donkey, he played the 2 - 7 with an ace on the flop."
- in Egypt, Donkey or homar is a derogatory term that refers to someone of very limited intelligence. Another usage is "Work Donkey" which means a very heavy worker, usually in routine non-creative work; for example, someone might say "Give that job to Ali, he's a Work Donkey anyway and he won't mind."
Politics in the U.S.A.
The donkey has also been a long-time unofficial symbol of the Democratic Party of the United States since Andrew Jackson's 1828 US presidential campaigns, defying the republican campaign calling him a "jackass"" - see .
Donkey Trivia
- Donkey is also the name of a fictional donkey (voiced by Eddie Murphy) in the animated movies Shrek and Shrek 2, both from DreamWorks Pictures.
- There are no actual donkeys in the video game Donkey Kong.
See also
External links
- The American Donkey and Mule Society
- American Donkey and Mule Society Zebra Hybrids
- National Wild Horse and Burro Program
- Catalan donkey National emblem
- Seek My Bowl on donkey as symbol.
- What is a Poitou Donkey?
- Breeds of livestock - Poitou Donkey
- Asian Wild Ass facts and photos - Wild Animals Online encyclopedia