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donkey
📅 Updated:2025-02-13
🕒 Created:2011-07-08
🆔 ID:2138
Description
The donkey (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) or a mountain canary due to its hee-haw "song".
A male donkey or ass is called a jack, a female a jenny, and an offspring less than one year old a foal (males are colts, female are fillies).
While different species of the Equidae family can interbreed, the offspring are almost always sterile. Nonetheless, horse/donkey hybrids are popular for their durability and vigor. A mule is the offspring of a jack and a mare. The much rarer successful mating of a stallion and a jenny produces a hinny.
Genera and species:
- equus (genus)
- asinus (subgenus)
- african_wild_ass (E. africanus)
- nubian_wild_ass (E. a. africanus)
- somali_wild_ass (E. a. somaliensis)
- atlas_wild_ass (E. a. atlanticus, extinct)
- donkey (E. a. asinus)
- african_wild_ass (E. africanus)
- asinus (subgenus)
