[Animals] Information About the Donkey

[GL HERO SHIMA]

The donkey is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, Equus africanus, and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, Equus africanus asinus, or as a separate species, Equus asinus.[1]: 1  It was domesticated in Africa some 5000–7000 years ago,[1]: 2 [2]: 3715 [3] and has been used mainly as a working animal since that time.

There are more than 40 million donkeys in the world, mostly in underdeveloped countries, where they are used principally as draught or pack animals. While working donkeys are often associated with those living at or below subsistence, small numbers of donkeys or asses are kept for breeding or as pets in developed countries.

An adult male donkey is a jack or jackass, an adult female is a jenny or jennet,[4][5][6] and an immature donkey of either sex is a foal.[6] Jacks are often mated with female horses (mares) to produce mules; the less common hybrid of a male horse (stallion) and jenny is a hinny.

Nomenclature

Traditionally, the scientific name for the donkey is Equus asinus asinus, on the basis of the principle of priority used for scientific names of animals. However, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature ruled in 2003 that if the domestic and the wild species are considered subspecies of a common species, the scientific name of the wild species has priority, even when that subspecies was described after the domestic subspecies.[7] This means that the proper scientific name for the donkey is Equus africanus asinus when it is considered a subspecies and Equus asinus when it is considered a species.[8][7]

At one time, the synonym ass was the more common term for the donkey. The first recorded use of donkey was in either 1784[9] or 1785.[10][11][12]: 239  While the word ass has cognates in most other Indo-European languages, donkey is an etymologically obscure word for which no credible cognate has been identified. Hypotheses on its derivation include the following:

perhaps from Spanish for its don-like gravity; the donkey was also known as "the King of Spain's trumpeter".[11]

perhaps a diminutive of dun (dull grayish-brown), a typical donkey colour.[10][13]

perhaps from the name Duncan.[10][14]

 

perhaps of imitative origin.[14]

From the 18th century, donkey gradually replaced ass and jenny replaced she-ass, which is now considered archaic.[15] The change may have come about through a tendency to avoid pejorative terms in speech and may be comparable to the substitution in North American English of rooster for cock, or that of rabbit for coney, which was formerly homophonic with cunny (a variation of the word cunt). By the end of the 17th century, changes in pronunciation of both ass and arse had caused them to become homophones in some varieties of English.[12]: 239  Other words used for the ass in English from this time include cuddy in Scotland, neddy in southwestern England and dicky in southeastern England;[12]: 239  moke is documented in the 19th century and may be of Welsh or Romani origin.

Burro is a word for donkey in both Spanish and Portuguese. In the United States, it is commonly applied to the feral donkeys that live west of the Rocky Mountains;[16] it may also refer to any small donkey.[17]: 147 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey

Edited February 28, 2024 by HERO SHIMA