Donkey

• 1. Introduction

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  In 2003, archaeologists excavating a tomb in Egypt made an unexpected discovery. Buried alongside what appeared to be one of the very first pharaohs were the skeletons of ten donkeys, interred with the same care reserved for high-ranking humans. The animals in that grave were not curiosities. They were a statement of power. How did a domesticated animal become so deeply woven into the fabric of human civilization that a king would take them into death? That question reaches back more than five thousand years, and the answer touches every corner of the world.

• 2. Origins and a Name

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  Equus simplicidens, one of the oldest known members of the genus that includes all living horses, zebras, and donkeys, had a donkey-shaped head. Fossils of this animal, approximately 3.5 million years old, were recovered in the US state of Idaho. The genus Equus spread quickly out of North America into the Old World, and the line that would eventually produce the donkey branched off long before recorded history.

  The direct ancestors of today's donkey are the Nubian and Somalian subspecies of the African wild ass, known scientifically as Equus africanus. The first domestication appears to have happened in Nubia, where pastoral communities tamed the animal and put it to work carrying loads. Genetic evidence points to a separate domestication event among Cushitic-speaking peoples in the Horn of Africa and along the Red Sea Hills. Remains of domestic donkeys dating to the fourth millennium BC were found at Ma'adi in Lower Egypt, making the donkey a relatively late addition to the farmyard: cattle, sheep, and goats had been domesticated in the seventh and eighth millennia BC.

  The animal's name has its own tangled history. The word ass has deep roots across Indo-European languages. The word donkey, by contrast, is etymologically obscure, with no credible cognate identified in any other language. The first recorded use appeared in either 1784 or 1785. Theories about its origin range from a connection to the Spanish title don, to a diminutive of dun, the dull grayish-brown color typical of many donkeys, to the personal name Duncan. By the end of the 17th century, changes in English pronunciation had turned ass and arse into homophones in some dialects, which appears to have accelerated the shift toward the newer word. Regional alternatives flourished: cuddy in Scotland, neddy in southwestern England, dicky in southeastern England, and moke, documented in the 19th century, possibly from Welsh or Romani.

• 3. Across Empires and Oceans

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  Between 2675 and 2565 BC, during the Dynasty IV era of Egypt, wealthy members of society were known to own more than 1,000 donkeys each. Those animals worked in agriculture, served as dairy and meat animals, and formed the backbone of Egypt's long-distance trade networks. The donkey had a practical advantage over cattle: it did not need to pause and chew its cud, keeping caravans moving.

  By the end of the fourth millennium BC, the donkey had spread into Southwest Asia. By 1800 BC, Mesopotamia had become the primary breeding center. Damascus earned a reputation for its large, white riding asses. Syrian breeders developed at least three other breeds, including one known for a smooth gait particularly suited to women riders. The Muscat or Yemen ass was bred separately in Arabia.

  The donkey's path into Europe is linked to viticulture. The animal is associated with the Syrian god of wine, Dionysus, and the two arrivals may have coincided in the second millennium BC. Greeks carried donkeys to colonies in what are now Italy, France, and Spain. Romans then dispersed them across a far wider empire.

  The Americas received their first donkeys from the ships of Christopher Columbus's Second Voyage, which landed at Hispaniola in 1495. The first animals to reach what is now Mexico may have belonged to Juan de Zumarraga, the first bishop of Mexico, who arrived there on the 6th of December 1528. The first donkeys to cross into what is now the United States may have come with Juan de Onate in April 1598, crossing the Rio Grande and spreading northward through missions and mines. Donkeys were documented in what is now Arizona in 1679. By the Gold Rush years of the 19th century, the burro had become the standard beast of burden for prospectors working the western United States.

• 4. Body, Behavior, and Breeding

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  Donkeys are adapted to marginal desert lands in ways that set them apart from horses. Heights at the withers range from less than 90 centimeters to approximately 150 centimeters, depending on breed and environment. In their native arid climates, donkeys spend more than half of each day foraging, often on poor-quality scrub. Their digestive system processes roughage through hind gut fermentation in the caecum and large intestine. A donkey needs approximately 1.5 percent of its body weight per day in dry matter, compared to the 2-2.5 percent possible for a horse of comparable size.

  Wild donkeys in dry areas are solitary and do not form harems, unlike horses. Each adult establishes its own home range. The bray, which typically lasts for twenty seconds and can be heard for over three kilometers, helps isolated animals stay in contact across desert distances. The animal's large ears may pick up more distant sounds and may also help cool its blood. Donkeys defend themselves by biting, striking with the front hooves, or kicking with the hind legs.

  A jenny is normally pregnant for about 12 months, with the gestation period ranging from 11 to 14 months, and usually gives birth to a single foal. About 1.7 percent of donkey pregnancies result in twins, though both foals survive in only about 14 percent of those twin pregnancies. Because of the length of gestation and lower conception rates compared to horses, donkey breeders typically plan for three foals in four years rather than one per year. Some large breeds, including the Asino di Martina Franca, the Baudet du Poitou, and the Mammoth Jack, are raised primarily to produce mules by crossing jacks with mares.

• 5. Working Lives

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  About 96 percent of the more than 40 million donkeys in the world live in underdeveloped countries, where they work as pack animals or in draught work for transport and agriculture. After human labor, the donkey is the cheapest form of agricultural power available. Some cultures that prohibit women from working with oxen in agriculture do not extend the same prohibition to donkeys.

  Donkeys have also served in war. During World War I, a British stretcher bearer named John Simpson Kirkpatrick, serving with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and Richard Alexander Henderson of the New Zealand Medical Corps used donkeys to rescue wounded soldiers from the battlefield at Gallipoli. In the Italian Army, Mountain Fusiliers each kept a donkey to carry their gear, and in extreme circumstances the animal could be eaten. In 2025, donkeys were issued to Russian forces in the invasion of Ukraine to ferry supplies, with Russian officials citing logistical difficulties as the reason.

  In the United States, Canada, and Australia, donkeys serve as livestock guard animals, braying loudly and attacking potential predators by kicking out with their front hooves. In 2019, donkeys comprised 14.2 percent of livestock guard animals in the United States.

  The market for donkey products extends further. Approximately 3.5 million donkeys and mules are slaughtered annually for meat worldwide. In Italy, which has the highest consumption of equine meat in Europe, roughly 1,000 donkeys were slaughtered in 2010, yielding approximately 100 tonnes of meat. Donkey milk, used for soaps, cosmetics, and dietary purposes, commanded an average price of 15 euros per litre in Italy in 2009. Ejiao, a gelatine produced by boiling donkey skins and used in traditional Chinese medicine, could sell for up to $388 per kilogram at October 2017 prices.

• 6. A Population Under Pressure

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  In 1997, the global donkey population was still growing, driven by rising human populations, economic development in poorer nations, and the ongoing cost of motor vehicles and fuel. That trajectory reversed in the years that followed. By 2006, the worldwide count had fallen to around 41 million, down from 43.7 million in 1995. In Europe, the decline had been running for decades: the continent held roughly 3 million donkeys in 1944 but just over 1 million in 1994.

  China's demand for ejiao accelerated the pressure. In 2006, China held 11 million donkeys, the most of any country. By 2017, that number had dropped to 3 million. Chinese suppliers began looking to Africa, and Kenya opened three donkey abattoirs in response to rising demand. A number of African countries, including Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal, subsequently banned China from purchasing their donkey products.

  In 2019, The Donkey Sanctuary warned that the global donkey population could be halved within the following five years if demand for ejiao continued to grow. The Donkey Sanctuary, based near Sidmouth in England, is the largest welfare organization working on behalf of donkeys and supports projects in Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, and Mexico. Meanwhile, the number of recognized donkey breeds has grown rapidly: 77 were recorded in 1995-97 in 2000, and 189 by June 2011, partly because of systematic identification work by the FAO's Animal Genetic Resources project. France, for instance, recognized only one breed, the Baudet du Poitou, until the early 1990s; by 2005, six additional breeds had official recognition there.

• 7. Hybrids Ancient and Modern

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  The earliest documented donkey hybrid is the kunga, produced in the Syrian and Mesopotamian kingdoms during the second half of the third millennium BC. A cross between a captive male Syrian wild ass and a female domesticated donkey, it was bred at a center in Nagar, the site now known as Tell Brak. Kungas pulled battle wagons and the chariots of kings, served as significant status symbols throughout the region, and were sacrificed to be buried alongside high-status people. They fell out of use when the domestic horse and its own donkey hybrid, the mule, arrived in the region at the end of the third millennium BC.

  Mules remain the dominant horse-donkey hybrid today. A jack crossed with a mare produces a mule; a stallion crossed with a jenny produces a hinny. Mules are generally considered easier to handle and physically stronger than hinnies, making them the preferred product for breeders. Horse-donkey hybrids are almost always sterile, because the developing gametes fail to complete meiosis properly. The lower progesterone production of jennies may also contribute to early embryonic loss.

  Donkeys can also breed with zebras. The offspring of a male zebra crossed with a female donkey is commonly called a zonkey or zedonk, while the offspring of a female zebra and a male donkey is called a zebrinny or zebret. Zebrinnies are rarer than zedonkies because female zebras in captivity are valuable for producing full-blooded zebras, and there are simply not enough of them available for hybridizing on any scale.