14 DAY TRIAL // 1. Donkeys are, let's say, a desert horse or zebra. In fact, a zebra species from northwestern Africa, Grevy's zebra, is something intermediary between a donkey and a zebra, whereas a species of Asian wild ass from Tibet, kiang, is something intermediary between horses and donkeys.
2. In comparison to a horse, a donkey has increased stamina, stands with worse food and sheltering, and lives longer. Smaller size is an advantage of rough terrain, where horses or camels cannot be used.
Because donkeys have much tougher toes, they are not usually horseshoed.
There are less races of donkeys in comparison to horses. The Poitou donkeys are the largest in the world: 1.55 m (5 ft 2 in) tall. The stallions are employed for obtaining an appreciated type of mules. The smallest donkeys are encountered in North Africa.
3. Donkeys are considered more intelligent than horses, have an excellent memory and a remarkable sense of orientation. Even if smaller, donkeys and their wild ancestor, the African wild ass, have 12 months of gestation, while the horse just 11. Donkeys and wild asses live 20-25 years.
4.The mule is a hybrid between the donkey stallion and the horse mare. It combines donkey qualities (having larger ears and smaller hoofs, shoulder "cross" and less hairy tail) to the size of a horse. Mules were appreciated in France, Spain and Italy, being used in agriculture and in army, as well, as auxiliary for the mountain troops (during World War I).
A hinny is a cross between a female donkey and a male horse. The horse stallions used for this are smaller, and hinnies are smaller, and less appreciated than mules, being encountered in countries like Greece or Bulgaria.
5. Today, there are three species of wild asses: the African wild ass (Equus asinus) from northeastern Africa, onager or Asiatic ass (Equus hemionus) from central and southwestern Asia and kiang (Equus kiang).
The donkey was domesticated 6,000 years ago, from the African wild ass, to which it still bears a great resemblance, including the shoulders' "cross". The wild donkeys of southwestern US and other areas are just feral bewildered animals.
The historic role of the donkey was much higher in the north Africa and Middle East, till the spread of the camels about 2,000 years ago.
