Category:Donkeys

Don"key, n.; pl. Donkeys. Etym: [Prob. dun, in allusion to the color of the animal + a dim. termination.]

1. A mule.

2. A stupid or obstinate fellow; an ass. Donkey engine, a small auxiliary engine not used for propelling, but for pumping water into the boilers, raising heavy weights, and like purposes. -- Donkey pump, a steam pump for feeding boilers, extinguishing fire, etc.; -- usually an auxiliary. -- Donkey's eye (Bot.), the large round seed of the Mucuna pruriens, a tropical leguminous plant.

Donkeys
laden tiny gray straggling plodding modest gentle neat-stepping patient ambles balks grazes hauls kicks pulls shies snorts

There are several breeds of domestic donkeys. There are also burros and donkey hybrids.

The donkey is properly known by the Latin name Equus Asinus. He is also known as an ass, a moke - originally by Welsh gypsies, a burro by Spanish-influenced Americans, and a cuddy by some Scots.

In the wild, donkeys live further spread out from each other than horses. However, their amazing voices, which can carry up to two miles, and their ears which are bigger than those of horses, enable them to more easily hear a distant neighbor.

There are several types of wild donkeys living in various places in the world:


 * the Kiang in India and Nepal
 * the Onager in Mongolia, Turkestan, Iran and Syria
 * the Somali wild ass in Africa, which has zebra-like striped legs
 * the Nubian ass, also in Africa, which has a shoulder stripe and a dorsal stripe, forming the famous cross, a marking often seen in domestic donkeys.

There are also feral donkeys living in places such as the Mohave desert in the south-west USA, where they thrive. These are not truly wild animals, but descendants of domestic donkeys that have escaped or been set free.

Wild donkeys stand between 10 hands (40 inches/102 cm) and 14 hands (56 inches/142 cm) high. Most domestic donkeys are in much the same height range. However, a miniature donkey is under 9 hands (36 inches/91 cm) when adult. At the other extreme, the American Mammoth and the French Poitou donkeys can stand up to 17 hands (68 inches/173 cm).

Domestic donkeys come in a wide range of colors, from black to white, through every shade of grey and brown, even pink, which is correctly known as pale strawberry roan. They also come in broken colors, as bi- and tri-colors, their rarity making them popular.

We cannot be sure how man first came to cooperate with the donkey. Unlike a horse, this intelligent animal will not walk blindly into a situation of perceived danger, making them unfavorable as steeplechasers or three-day eventers. However, their patience and persistence gives them a very valid role as a surefooted pack animal and draught animal.

The donkey has an ill-founded reputation for being stubborn and stupid, a reflection of their handlers' characteristics rather than their own. It was often because the less successful tradesmen had donkeys, because they could not afford to keep horses, which have more expensive needs. Like bad craftsmen, these tradesmen blamed their tools: the poor old donkey.

Donkeys can be very long lived, with several up to 60 years old being recorded, but 40 years old being looked on as elderly. Thus, a 'donkey's years' refers to a long time, though this may also owe something to the length of donkeys' ears - a play on words. Of course 'donkey work' is always demanding and arduous.

Donkeys were among the first animals after cats and dogs to be domesticated, and were certainly one of the first draught animals used by man when he took up agriculture. They form the subject of many cave paintings in Europe and Africa.

Donkeys originally arrived in Britain with the Roman legions, who used them both as pack animals and harnessed four abreast to draw wagons full of supplies. The donkey soon found its place: wherever there was hard work and little reward. Later, donkeys were harnessed for drawing a carriage or pulling a plough. At the peak of their popularity there were 100,000 working donkeys in London, including a milking herd, as donkeys' milk is very good for premature and delicate babies and children.

There are very few working donkeys in England today. A few farms are run with their help, they are companions to nervous horses and newly weaned foals, water is raised by them at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight, and there are also donkeys fetching and carrying in Clovelly. In many developing countries, a donkey is a person's most prized possession, being its owner's tractor, family car, shopping cart, and companion, all rolled into one.

Nowadays it is much more likely that the donkeys you see are family pets, often being shown, driven, taken for walks, teaching youngsters to ride, or just being a well-loved companion. It is true most people have a soft spot for the donkey, and most donkeys have a soft spot for humans.