Donkey - mammal, equine.
in many countries and is now close to the people lives a donkey, a donkey or a home.Animal wild ass involved in the formation of this economic subspecies.
Domestic donkeys as shown domesticated horses appeared before a long time been practically the main vehicle.
Donkey: characteristics, origins
As is the case with many other animals, such as horses, donkeys should distinguish among wild and feral.Wild donkey has its own characteristics.But we tell them a little later.
Donkeys can meet a wide range of color: gray, black, brown, and occasionally white.The color of the belly, the front of the muzzle and around the eyes they are usually lighter.Mane and tail - hard.At the end of the tail - the brush.The ears are clearly longer than the horse.
donkeys height ranges of 90-160 cm. Sexual maturity is reached by about 2.5 years.
Due to the fact that they do not tolerate the foot European humid climate (formation of deep holes and cracks, which appear ulcers), crucial care.
Occur these animals from countries with arid climate.
wild ass: name, description, habitat
wild ass (Equus asinus) in the distant past, probably, it was widely distributed in the North African deserts.As a species, unfortunately, has not been studied.
ancestor domestic donkey (North Africa) has the look of a typical long-eared animal growth much less a horse (height 1.4 m), thin-legged, with massive head and a short mane.
Long ago different subspecies of hoofed lived in North Africa and parts of Asia.As a result of the domestication of almost all of them disappeared as early as the Roman era.
Today, they survived only on hills near the Egyptian coast of the Red Sea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea.A small population was able to settle down and the Israel Nature Reserve.
In Somalia civil war wild ass, perhaps completely disappeared.In Ethiopia and Sudan, probably it also expects the same fate.Only Eritrea has a good number of these animals - about 400 species.
Feral donkeys: Distribution
Feral (once the former home) donkeys, compared to native wild exist in many countries around the world.There they are in countries with a population of wild asses, which is the major concern of zoologists.They believe that such a situation could lead to mixing of the two groups, and it will destroy the genetic purity of the wild ass.
Quite a lot of wild animals live in the steppes of Australia (1.5 million.).In the southwest of the United States - about 6 thousand donkeys (burros), which are protected.
One of the few European populations of donkeys occurs on about.Kapras.They are larger than the other donkeys.The singularity of them is still in the fact that the legs are observed zebroobraznye band.
Perhaps the wild ass is not a native wild.Most of the animals that people see in the nature of recent years - it is almost feral pets.Donkey wild rather poorly understood.All that is known about him: he lives primarily in the desert and semi-desert.It eats mostly vegetation.
Lifestyle
like zebras, donkeys keep herds family (10 mares and young), led by a stallion.They wander widely and are very careful.In nature, can occur as a smooth coat, and long-haired and curly.
mate they are mostly in the spring, at least - at the beginning of the summer.Approximately 1 year (13-14 months), one or two are born foal who fed breast milk up to 6 months of age.
ass very attached to their young.Independently foal reaches almost two years.
difference from the horse, especially
What is different from a donkey a horse?However, he has hooves adapted to walking on uneven rocky surface.But they allow these animals to move safely as soon as, but not jumping.However, if necessary, the donkey is able to develop a speed of up to 70 kilometers per hour.
Also notable external differences from the horses have some features that are not visible at first glance.One of them - a different number of vertebrae.More donkeys 31 pairs of chromosomes, whereas horses 32.
their body temperature in these animals compared with horses slightly below - 37 on average, instead of 38 ° C.The gestation period longer donkeys than horses.
wild ass (photo with a baby - above) - a caring, tolerant, hard-working animal.
Even during the construction of the famous Egyptian pyramids, these amazing, seemingly small animals participated as riding and pack.It turns out that the domestication of the donkey is really happening in Egypt and Ethiopia is still in the upper Neolithic period, more than 5000 years ago.
