Learn about the origins of donkey breeds from the Donkey Sanctuary in the U.K., and meet the smallest of these breeds - miniature donkeys - at the website of Oklahoma State University's Division of Agriculture. There are millions of feral donkeys living across Australia, you can find out more about their environmental impact by downloading a fact sheet from the Australian Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. (Image credit: glaflamme/Getty Images) Additional resources Asiatic wild asses are classified as near threatened, with a population of around 28,000.Ī zedonk is a hybrid offspring of a donkey and a zebra. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the African wild ass is critically endangered, with only 23 to 200 adults left. While domestic donkeys are in no threat of extinction, the same cannot be said for wild asses.
Source: Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Are donkeys endangered? Kingdom: Animalia Subkingdom: Bilateria Infrakingdom: Deuterostomia Phylum: Chordata Subphylum: Vertebrata Infraphylum: Gnathostomata Superclass: Tetrapoda Class: Mammalia Subclass: Theria Infraclass: Eutheria Order: Perissodactyla Family: Equidae Genus: EquusĮquus hemippus - Syrian wild ass, achdariĮquus africanus africanus - Nubian wild assĮquus africanus somaliensis - Somali wild assĮquus hemionus - Asiatic wild ass, onager, kulanĮquus hemionus hemionus - Mongolian wild assĮquus hemionus kulan - kulan, Turkmenistani onager (Image credit: Layne Kennedy/Getty Images) Donkey taxonomy and classification Wild burros roam Custer State Park in South Dakota. Females typically give birth to a new foal each year.
At 5 months, foals are weaned and at 2 years they are old enough to mate. Foals weigh between 19 and 30 pounds (8.6 to 13.6 kg) at birth and can stand and nurse just 30 minutes after birth. Hybrids are almost always sterile and cannot produce offspring of their own.įemale donkeys have a gestation period of around 12 months, and baby donkeys are called foals. When a zebra and a donkey mate, the result is called a zebroid, zonkey or zeedonk. A jack that mates with a female horse will produce an animal called a mule, while a jenny and a male horse produce a hinny, according to the University of Miami. In addition to other donkeys, they will breed with horses and zebras, producing hybrid offspring. Just as donkeys don't seem to care who's in their herd, they also don't seem to be picky about who they breed with. This massive amount is concerning when it comes to feral donkeys, which can move into habitats and take food from the local animals. A donkey can consume as much as 6,000 pounds (2,722 kg) of food per year, according to the Global Invasive Species Database. Instead of tearing at grass with their teeth, donkeys grab the plant with their lips, pull it into their mouth, then rip it with their flat teeth and grind it down for swallowing.ĭonkeys are voracious eaters. What do donkeys eat?ĭonkeys are grazers that typically like to eat grass, though they also eat shrubs and desert plants. Sometimes donkeys are trained to protect other livestock from predators, as they typically attack when threatened and will guard other animals if they are bonded to them, according to the Donkey Sanctuary of Canada. They are more active during the early mornings and evenings, when they travel and graze with their herd.ĭomestic donkeys are typically used as pack animals or for milk, according to the Global Invasive Species Database. Image gallery: Bronze Age donkey burialĭonkeys rest during the hottest part of the day. First proof of donkey polo in ancient China found in noblewoman's tomb
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