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Livestock

Donkey

Also Known As Ass At one time the more common English term for the donkey. · Burro Spanish and Portuguese word for donkey, in common English use in the Americas.
Horses and Other Equines

The ass, bred down over millennia into the world's most common and least celebrated pack and draft animal. Hardier and more sure-footed on poor ground than the horse, and far cheaper to keep, it remains central to smallholder transport and haulage across much of Africa, Asia and Latin America. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Scientific Name
Equus africanus asinus 1
Domestication Region
Northeast Africa (Nubia and the Horn of Africa) 1
Primary Uses
Pack and draft transport, haulage; meat, milk and hide in some regions 1
Disputed
Domesticated When (Circa)
circa 5000 to 3000 BC, debated 1
Estimates from the archaeological and genetic record range from circa 5000 to 3000 BC; the exact center and date are still debated.
Era
Era (category)
Neolithic 1
Connections

In Discipline

Animal Husbandry, Disciplines
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Donkey (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    It was domesticated in Africa some 5000-7000 years ago, and has been used mainly as a working animal since that time.
  • Taxonomy section
    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.
  • Domestication section
    Remains of domestic donkeys dating to the fourth millennium BC have been found in Ma'adi in Lower Egypt, and it is believed that the domestication of the donkey was accomplished long after the domestication of cattle, sheep and goats in the seventh and eighth millennia BC.
  • Uses section
    After human labour, the donkey is the cheapest form of agricultural power.
  • lead section, Etymology
    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.
  • History section
    It was domesticated in Africa some 5000-7000 years ago.
View the Source
Donkey (Wikipedia)
lead: domesticated in Africa some 5000-7000 years agoView the Source
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