Did I pet a donkey or a mule today - see picture from my cell phone camera

[michael-piziak]

Is this a mule or donkey I petted today ???

I've looked at pics of both and I still can't decide what I petted.

LOL

pic attached

[PhilGil]

Based on the description here, it's a donkey. Note the exceptionally long, black tipped ears and the shoulder stripe.

[hansdown]

There is generally a pattern in the shape of a cross in the fur on a donkey's back.

It appears to be a donkey.

[tgalati4]

It looks like a well-fed burro to me.

[michael-piziak]

LOL, so a burro is a Donkey.

This animal was certainly very calm and did not scare easily - which I read donkey's are very calm by nature and don't scare easily (see my link below).

I also read that Donkeys are actually very intelligent - that they can remember an area of land or another donkey even up to or after 25 years. So Donkey's have been given a bad rap as some people think they are stupid animals - which they are not.

I also read that if a farmer crosses, mates, a Donkey with a Horse then the result is a Mule.

This animal was up against the fence, and even after hearing my dirt-bike and I turned the motorcycle off, he did not move a step. He (or she) let me pet him and he was so sweet! I plan to take him some Apples next time I go by him to treat him!

Here are some very interesting facts about Donkeys!
http://www.mikesdonkeys.co.uk/facts.html

[michael-piziak]

Based on the description here, it's a donkey. Note the exceptionally long, black tipped ears and the shoulder stripe.

Excellent. Your link proves what I read, is which a Mule is intelligent because one of it's parents (a Donkey) is intelligent.

I think there is a general misconception out there that Donkey's and Mules are stupid - WRONG!

thanks so much!

[Old_Printer]

My wife and her family used to raise donkeys. One standout feature of a donkey is a long thin tail with a tuft of hair only toward the end -- like in your photo. A mule has a tail like a horse.

Old_Printer

[michael-piziak]

One last question before I crash and go to bed.

Do most of you think this is a male donkey - I think I see something hanging from under-neath "him" that would suggest so!

ROFLMAO !

And thanks all for your replies - this has certainly been a fun thread for me here int he Cafe !

[michael-piziak]

My wife and her family used to raise donkeys. One standout feature of a donkey is a long thin tail with a tuft of hair only toward the end -- like in your photo. A mule has a tail like a horse.

Old_Printer

Let me ask you, or you ask your wife, this question:

Are Donkeys generally shorter than Mules? I would think so. But I don't know.

[QIII]

Mules are a the (typically sterile) hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse.

So their size is somewhere in between.

Your picture appears to be a male donkey, Equus africanus asinus. (Some cladograms give it as Equus asinus or Equus asinus africanus)

Domestic horses are Equus ferus caballus.


Interesting US Army historical note:

Fresh, wet-behind-the-ears Second Lieutenants are often referred to as "Shave tails". This is due to the practice of cutting the tail (which is hair, like a horse's) off of an unbroken, newly-acquired mule to indicate that it is untrained and not ready for military service.