Wild Asses

the donkey world? Joining me today to talk about asses is TV writer and host of the PODCASTO Is This Racist? Andrew T. Welcome, Hi, thanks for having me. I am so excited a big fan. I think I read your You had a blog like a long time. Yeah, yeah, like over like about ten years ago. Now it might be more. Yeah, I read it. Oh god, I read it before it was a podcast, so you know, well,

I'm just saying thank you. Yeah. It's it's just it's like, I'm positive when you think about things you wrote that long ago, it's always just like, oh god, but it was good. So that's sort of my memory. But also I'm just like, who the hell knows, Like no I thought it. Well, I read it, so I thought it was good. I I really enjoyed it. Thank you, thank you. But now you're on my turf, so we are we

are going to talk about donkeys. So one of the reasons I asked you to come on is that I can see from perusing your Twitter that you are a fan of cute animals. Oh sure, well, yeah, I have you can pie see on the zoom window. I have. I have my chihuahuas who are forbidden from roaming the house because they are, uh, they're not great with not peeing on the couch. Um, so they're they're they're locked in this office with me basically. Um, And uh, yeah,

I'm pretty I'm pretty good with animals. I was never really like an animal person growing up, not like not an animal person, but like we would occasionally. I think it's because my parents don't really aren't are definitely not like petch people. So we occasionally have like a like we had fish for a little while. We had a fish tank and like, I think a bird, which was a little like I think it's that thing like from the like a thing you forget like maybe a birden No,

it was it was definitely a bird. I know. I guess I was trying to remember the story because it is probably one of those like this is exactly the wrongest way to adopt a bird kind of. I mean, for one, I don't think anyone had any sense of how long they should live, and so that, you know, I'm positive we didn't do the correct job taking care of it. Um. Yeah, like a budgy. Yeah, I don't even know if those are different. Yeah, so yeah, I mean it was just from like the grocery store, like

so whatever. The pet aisle at the literal grocery store was okay. I was thinking, like, because at the grocery store, they also have lobsters that you get like to eat, So I was thinking, like, do they have birds that you just like? Cha? I'm from I am from Michigan, so that's not like entirely outside of the rem of possibility. But no, it was. It was nothing like that. It was. It was just like one of those like Midwest UM

mega stores UM in the eighties. So they had like just literally everything and you know, everything from guns to pets to every toy you could possibly really want in that era and grocer's It's just I don't know, like a Walmart, but shot, get your gun, get your uh speaking about the wild West and mules donkeys, So I

I love donkeys. They seem like a just kind of a basic simple animal, just like they're in the background, you know, like when you see any kind of movie and then there's the nerd who like wears glasses and you know, works in the library, and just like you don't notice them. But then I want to give these donkeys a makeover and so we'll notice them for the beautiful, wonderful creatures that they are. I mean, I guess they are like pre combustion engine there, like the infrastructure animal.

It's like it's like kind of like you don't notice a truck especially, but a horse is like a personal car. They're like the tug boats versus you know, versus the yacht. It's they're doing all the work behind the scenes, behind the scenes crew doing all the work, and they get none of the glory. And I want to change that. So donkeys, like I said, they don't get enough love. I think like the last time we had a donkey as a hero was the classic movie Shrek, and that

was great donkey representation, I thought, because he was. He was smart and brave, which is I think those are the two defining characteristics of donkeys. They are intelligent and they're very brave. Um. I guess that makes sense because it is sort of like the whole conceit of Shrek is the overlooked thing or the you know, making a hero out of something and having that extent to donkeys probably makes makes sense. I will, I should be. I've never seen a Shrek movie, Are you kidding? Oh my god.

I was talking about this at work yesterday because all the child actors knew that smash Mouth song and it took me like a big second to realize it's because they had all grown up with it as infantych Shrek. Yeah, I'm not sure if I'm mad at you or like confused. It's a confused anger right now. I mean, look, you you want. I don't like to command people to watch things, because like that's not my place to tell you what media to consume. But I don't. It's like, I don't

understand how you've avoided it. It feels like it must have taken effort because I know that it was on every time. The teacher in our school is like not having a good day, you know, how to hangover? Shrek was on? Shrek was there to teach us important lessons. I think this this is going to just directly aged me. Yes, okay, so I'm I'm just old um because like Shrek came out when I was in college, so I just like never really professors didn't pop on Shrek hangovers. Yeah it

makes sense. I like I would have had to like see it in the theater, I guess, which seems unlikely, right, But yeah, yeah, I mean Shrek hit I think when I was in middle school and so that was like prime time. Here's a video mrs you know, Gabberson just put her head down for an hour. Maybe thank you makes sense. I think also to the extent that I had an opinion on children's stuff, I think I was the kind of like pretentious, like college kid who was like, well,

I much prefer Pixar. Yeah, but Pixar has never done a movie about donkeys, so what do they know. That's what I'm saying. There's a room. There's a room in the market. So donkeys are far from just beasts of burden. They are intelligent, thoughtful, fiercely courageous, adorable, loving, and fascinating creatures. But because they're more free willed than other domesticated animals,

they get a bad rap as being stubborn. It's like, you know, one of Gordon Ramsey's favorite insults is calling you a donkey, Like, but a donkey is actually a great thing to beat. Means you're brave and you're smart. Uh, And they are actually so donkeys didn't just come out of nowhere, right like cows and donkeys. It's not like, you know, you build a farm and then suddenly donkeys and cows are there, Like the cow was domesticated from the wild ox and the chicken from the jungle. Foul

donkeys were domesticated from the wild ass. Now I'm gonna say wild ass a lot on this program, and it is the scientific term. Uh. And so you are not allowed to derive any enjoyment out of hearing it. That's like it is you know, actually I guess it's just but because of stubbornness or something. It's like the etymology of actual the use ass is I'm not curious enough to look it up. I'm never curious enough to look it up. But wow, what a weird like journey for

that word. It really is a strange journey. Yeah, I don't actually, yeah, I guess ass meaning your but must come from the term ass for the donkey, right, it feels like it must just converge on people that are disliked somehow. You know, you are an ass because of the donkey, and then you are also called a butt from time to time, and that just moved over and jackass is the term for the male donkey. Uh so

so yes, uh Now. Donkeys are also the progenitors of the most famous animal hybrid in the world, which is the mule. The mule is a male donkey plus a female horse. Of course, there are a lot of other types of donkey cocktails, such as the hinney, which is a female donkey plus a male horse, so same combination as the mule, but the sexes are swapped of the parents. There's the zebroid a k a. The zonkey, which is a female donkey and a male zebra, or the donkra,

which is a male donkey and a female zebra. So you know you got you got some fun and fresh mixes there of donkeys and other other horse horses out there. I feel like I, yeah, I do, I remember that from yeah, I guess it must just be I don't know, soft college biology class somewhere, just the page of all the that made you dissect a zonkey. God, no, just

like the hybrids. I guess it's sort of endlessly fascinating when you're in that part of college to think about hybrids or something, I don't know what you do instead of watching Shrek. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, waste of time. Waste of time. So, the history of the donkey. They were domesticated in Africa around five thousand years ago, probably in Nubia, So their original habitat was harsh desert lands, so donkeys

are quite hardy. Uh. It was domesticated from a wild ass species, the African wild donkeys, So we will talk more about these wild ancestors later. They have been used not only as be suburden, but working farm animals and as steeds. They spread across Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, and we're soon just everywhere because they were so useful for humans. And when we find an animal that we think is useful, we propagate that thing until

it everywhere. Right, Yeah, yeah, that's like the I mean right that that's just another another way that we we press evolution or or pressing. That's yeah, that's so interesting. Here's another question, is so the word steed, it's just quadruped you could ride, I realized said steed. I was like, huh,

what is the origin of that word. I mean, honestly, most of my questions could be truly answered by a quick flip through the dictionary, and I cannot stress that I will not be either now or later doing those things. I don't know the etymology of steed, but as far as I understand it, it is any kind of thing you ride. I don't even know if it needs to be a quadruped like get a writable biped like I think writeable, I writable ostrich still would be a steed, right, Yeah,

that's back as a steed. Actually, that's clear, that's yeah, inarguable. I'm with you, right exactly. So. They were first introduced to South America by invading Spanish ships, and they were later introduced to North America via Mexico. They became incredibly popular in North America during the gold Rush, used as a beast of burden by miners, but when the mining boom ended, many of these donkeys were either abandoned or escaped and formed a feral population of wild donkeys a

k a. Wild burrows. Most of them live in Arizona and they're still there, living their best free lives. That makes sense. Like, yeah, so it's wow, what a what a odd journey, but it right. I guess it's like the desert, the desert ish area is just sort of an ecosystem. Yeah, you can just like find Huh. The super ignorant thing of me that I'm about to say is that I would, I guess assume like this is

just can't be correct. That like the desert is like less bio diverse than like say a forest or rainforest or whatever type thing. Anyway, I guess what I mean is like because rocks is rocks and sand of sand, So like the African desert more similar to the Arizona Desert than say an African forest as to a you know, American forest north or south or whatever. Um. And I'm just like, as I'm saying, I'm like, that can't be right.

I mean, that's not that's not a bad idea. I mean I think that in general, when you have a harsher environment that is more sparse in terms of water and nutrients, I do think that bio in terms of bio diversity of uh sort of the of like larger animals. Yeah,

I think that is. Yeah, there's less substrate to be diverse among, right, Like the moon and the Mars and Mars have the same biodiversity, so right, I mean there is a surprising amount of biodiversity when you look at deserts, especially when you include things like insects and vegetation and the smaller, less notable animals. But yeah, it is true.

It is a hard it's a harder lifestyle, so you need there's more competition for scarce resources, so it's a little harder to have, you know, you basically it's a thunder dome. Whereas something like while a rainforest may have its challenges, certainly you also have a lot of other opportunities for animals to find little niches, and then like by finding these niches, you have more biodiversity, right, there's just more like carbon and water around. I guess yeah.

I think like the Amazon rainforest has its run of the areas where you have like the most like a huge, disproportionately huge number of different species there, and I guess it would have been like probably in Arizona before the the wild asses outcomputed. It probably like buffalo or something like that around I guess, or bison or something like that. Yeah, bison, Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so actually there are feral donkeys in other parts

of the world as well, not just Arizona. There's a group of feral donkeys in Italy called the Assinara donkey who live on the island of Assinara off the coast of Sardinia. So fascinatingly, the entire population is albino. So their ancestors were domesticated donkeys that were abandoned on the island when it was turned into a penal colony in eight five, and the locals were forced to evacuate and

leave so they could build this penal colony. And then it's thought that the white coat the albinos of these donkeys was due to the fact that the original donkeys had been imported from a special breed from Egypt by the duke who once lived on the island that just had very particular tastes, like hey, I like these albino donkeys. Just get them on this island. And then when the island was turned into a penal colony and everyone had to leave. Uh, these donkeys were just left there and

then they formed their own feral population. And now it's no longer a penal colony, which is great, and the prison is abandoned and the feral donkeys have taken possession of the prison. So like now this is the donkeys have have repossessed the the penal colony, so now it

is just like a donkey sanctuary. I guess that makes sense, right, because it's like anywhere that humans are, probably the first thing we do is get rid of the large carnivorous predators, and then it's just like who then is going to kill these donkeys? Right? And I mean islands actually can naturally not have large predators, Like you'll have a lot of islands where you have a lot of like you can have flightless birds and stuff that are sitting ducks

more or less because you don't have predators here. So I don't even know if this island ever had, right, I don't. I don't really know the history of it. But they they, yeah, they they're doing great. It's now a national park and they're protected, so now it's now their island. But before we move on to the next section, I just want to run through some quick donkey facts. They are in the same family as horses. As I mentioned earlier, male donkeys are called jackasses and female donkeys

are called Jenny's or Jeannette's, whatever you prefer. I suppose it's like you see a donkey, it's like are you more of a Genny or more of a Janette? So formal,

please please, Jeanette was my mother's. So, donkeys who live and work in poorer countries live for about fifteen years, but donkeys who lead more privileged lifestyles in richer countries can live from thirty to fifty years, which I think it's one of like when you look at animal health in UH and so if you cannot you learn a lot about not just like the animals and the environment, but also you can learn about socioeconomic issues, like you

see this drastic effect on donkey lifespan. Well, you know, it's a it's an interesting indicator in terms of difference in terms of quality of living in different countries. That's so wild, Yeah, is it like as far as beasts of burden go, do we just like people just like work animals to death or like you don't retire from or a donkey usually. I mean it's it's one of those things where like sometimes people do you know um,

and sometimes you don't. I mean, if you're a subsistence farmer somewhere and you're struggling to have enough to feed your family, being able to like retire your donkey, yeah, probably the last of your It's such a like as far as like just from a straight resources perspective, it's just got to be like it has to be kind reproductive to retire an animal. What are you gonna do? Feed it? It's it's the opposite feed it while it does nothing. So probably there's like a lack of veterinary care,

you know. And like if you again, like if you are a subsistence farm where you may like and I'm not saying that that like they don't care about their animals. They may love their animals, but if you don't have the resources to be able to take your animal too of it, then you're not It's it's not going to live as long. It's also loving loving like work animals is like a particular perspective that is probably would be my perspective. But also I'm not farmer, Like I don't know, right,

I mean, it really depends. Some farmers are going to view them as tools, like as they would view a tractor, and probably care for them in the same way they would care for their tools, and some farmers form a connection with them. I think it really just depends. Yeah, yeah, I guess what I mean is like it's that perspective

of like I'm like, oh, how would you not? But it's like, you know, there's lots of reasons you wouldn't, and they're probably also okay, yeah, no, I mean it's I think it is like we can't sit here in our you know and sort of our wealthier nations and then be like, oh, you should be treating your donkeys better because exactly okay, try to be honest. Subsistence farms even the way I phrase it, it's like, oh, we

work animals at death. It's like, well yeah, but you know it is not really like what perspective, what like leg do I have to stand on on like the morality of that honestly? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, but I mean it is it is. I think, um, we can think about these things in terms of animal welfare, because I really don't think I do not think that animal welfare and human welfare are ever at odds with each other.

I think they actually go hand in hand and when you improve human and animal welfare, like they can both improve each other kind of simultaneously. Sure, yeah, yeah, absolutely make so just a few more quick donkey facts before the breaks. So they have tough, cupped hoofs that are adept for rocky surfaces and climbing at steep angles. These hooves are more durable than horse hoofs and do not require shoeing because they can sometimes be shoot if if

they're working and they're working on harder surfaces. But because these hooves grow so quickly and are so tough, they do not have as delicate a hoof as say a horse um, which sounds like I'm judging horse for the oh you're little sins of hoof. I it was probably like depressingly late in life that I kind of realized how like shoeing a horse worked, because it's so wild. Honestly, as a very strange I just could super weird imagine coming up with it, like whatever road you take to

get there, like yeah, well it's it's how did we figure? Like? It must have been a weird and painful process, both for the human and the horse. Yeah, to figure out what part of the hoof was not sensitive, Like if you if you heard a horse hoof, they will let you know and they'll kick you as they should. But yeah, I mean like so much of the hoof is non nonsensory, Like they do not have nerves. It's like your fingernail. Horses and donkeys, they are essentially like walking on a

giant finger, which is weird to think about. Um, and that hoof is a big old, like big name essentially fingernail made out of similar stuff, you know, keratin. Yeah, and when they shoe a horse, it's they're like they'll use nails and stuff. It looks like, oh god, they're

nailing this thing to this poor horse. It's like, well, if you do it correctly, uh, then the horse will not actually feel it shouldn't hit any nerves, it shouldn't be painful, and it's basically yeah, it's just like wild that like you're like walk there like walking around on like a press on nail essentially, or like more like

a surgically implanted press on. Now is like yeah, it's like if we nailed like just shoe soles to the horse, like maybe not nailed because that sounds painful, but like glued them onto the horror feet sounds kind of convenient, I guess. Honestly, I'm sure there are people who are not strictly speaking opposed to something like that. Well, if you walk around barefoot enough, it starts to get all calousie and you got your own hooves. Yeah that's my

fu thing. Yeah she so. Uh. They also have really tough digestive systems and can go for long periods without water. In areas with little water, feral populations are more solitary, and they spread out so they don't have to compete for the few resources around, and if there is a lot of distance between them, they still communicate with each other by brain so that you know, he hall like

this really loud donkey sounds. Those are really useful for donkeys to communicate with each other when they have to spread out so that they're not all competing for the same water sources. But when there's ample food and water, they actually do like to congregate and live closer to each other and be more social. Um and usually females are the ones that form these permanent more permanent uh

other quasi permanent. They can come and go, but they'll form actually these big mom groups kind of hang out and they'll sometimes lit a couple of males join in if they like them, but if not, they will violently violently exclude the males. So they can be kind of click ish, but for a good reason. That's so. And it's like, yeah, because horses are herds, is it hurts are herds? Yeah? And bison buffalo similar, but it's just like as you go into the desert, Okay, okay, yeah,

I think they can. They're both social and they can be solitary, which I think is a really interesting Usually for animals are kind of like one or the other, but with certain animals, like they can actually be both kind of like on their own and then also social. So you know, it's not just it's not just introverts and extroverts. There are those of us who are somewhere

in between. I guess, given how the other Horsey type animals it was, they're they're like herd and malls that had to develop an ability to be on their own, but they're still like talking God, Okay, weird, that makes sense. Yeah, and this and there's actually some really interesting behavior that we're gonna talk about right after the break that actually shows you sort of the difference between donkeys and horses

and why that combo of solitary lifestyle. But then they also like the company of each other has turned them into these wonderfully courageous and like just really here hero

hero hero donkeys, right right, right. That's going to be interesting because it's like that has to like so mimic, not so mimic maybe, but like that's like closer to the human experience or even this like this weird American experience where like we are clearly social animals, but some of us tell ourselves we are like lone wolves or whatever, but we're still living off the fruits of society and

the social Yeah, okay, that's yeah. I've to figure out this meta form maybe during the break, during the break, okay, and so we are back, Um, did you figure out the metaphor? It feels like it's almost there, but it is. It is the thing where it's just like like this like fake individualism or not fake individualism, but like not it's not true individualism. I think it's yeah, miage of individualism. Yeah, no, I think that like and this is as we talk

more about the donkey behavior. I think it is something to aspire to in terms of like, they have a strong sense of individuality, but they care about other animals. They care about each other, and they you know that. It's like you can be you can be independent, but if you but you can still care about your community. This behavior perfectly. I was looking at it the other way, like donkeys are like the like libertarian assholes of the acquine world who are like where live free or die?

But they're still breathing all this non polluted air and driving on rhods and not dying of you know, like unexpected, uninspected means or whatever. No, donkeys are definitely community oriented animals. So they're known to be stubborn because they're actually highly intelligent, cautious, and strong willed. So donkeys are less easily intimidated by humans than say, horses. So with a horse, you can

kind of uh. When you're riding a horse, they can be very responsive to you because their reaction to I, like a stressful situation or is to like turn away, is to go away. So you can train a horse more or less like if I tug you in this direction, you go in this direction. They kind of trust the writer to know what to do, like to have them avoid danger. Donkeys do not trust you. You can earn their trust slowly, but they will trust their own gut

and they will not be bullied by you. And so if they think that maybe something they're about to do is a bad idea, they will not do it. But they will become less stubborn if they have a close relationship with you, so they can bond with humans and grow to trust them. But you really have to earn that trust. So you're like, right or die with this donkey, and you know, I mean again it comes back to Shrek,

which again I'm shocked you haven't seen. But the relationship between Shrek and his donkey, it was built on trust and mutual respect. And that is how you get a donkey to trust you is to be more like Shrek right right, not like Farquad, which I know none of this means anything that you haven't seen. Trust well, I

I have a sense. I have a sense of what's going on just from a yeah culture, but no, I think it is it's more just like not more sorry because I don't know the original, but but there's that like the instinct is to try to portray in the instinct in media is like the relationship with like a cowboy and his horse, Like you know, lone rangers and Silver are like one of a piece. But that's like more just that Silver is a brainless follower who will do whatever the lone ranger wants him to do, whereas

he's a sheep. Of course sheep. Donkey donkey would be like, no, that's donkey can can give yeah, respond as an equal or something donkey, Yeah, donkey trusts but verifies. Yeah. So donkeys are not to be trifled with, unlike horses, who tend to scare more easily, and their response to danger is to run, which is a great strategy. I'm not anti horse, I don't. I know, I'm kind of seems like that. Um, but I don't want to tear horses

down right, Okay, all right, that's fair enough. But I will say so in a herd structure, like with horses, running at danger is a sound strategy because you are part of a herd and you won't run together. The chance that you're going to get picked off is, you know,

not not so high. But if you're on your own, um, running is maybe not a great strategy, and so donkeys, who sometimes have to live solitary lives when resources are more scarce, have learned to stand up for themselves and so when they perceive danger, they stop in their tracks, they assess the situation, they scream uh in anger, and

then they defend themselves. So this is why there are guard donkeys, which is a real thing, so who can be even more effective in some circumstances than dark guard dogs on like a farm, so guard donkeys tend to protect things like herds of sheep, cattle, maybe even chickens because when they see a predator like a coyote or a wolf or a fox, even like a hyena, they have an instinctive hatred of these kind of dog like

animals and they will go super agro on them. So they will bray really loudly, which will often alert the farmer that something is a miss, and they will confront the predator, stomping, biting, and sometimes picking up and tossing the poor unsuspecting carnivore away um. And despite being smaller than horses, they are a lot fiercer. They will basically protect anything, anyone in anything, whether it's another donkey, another animal, or even a human, and they will fiercely defend anyone

they have bonded with. I guess that makes sense too, because it's like it's plenty big enough to handle, like your your wolf, fox, coyote type situation. Yea, yeah, and they're not. And one of the nice things about having a donkey as a as a guard on a farm versus like using firearms or something is they don't typically kill the predator. They are capable of killing predators, but usually they just scare them off, Like if you get tossed by a donkey, you're not necessarily going to go

back for seconds. So, and they aren't really aggressive, They're typically just defensive. They don't go out seeking conflict. There are some donkeys who have actually been specifically bred for guarding, so like the most curad just calm and courageous donkeys who have both been trained and a sort of selectively bred to be the best guard donkeys in the world.

I guess that's I mean that, yeah, that makes sense, it's really I mean it probably especially like having an herbivore be your guard makes a lot more sense than any Yeah, just like why you don't want them to hunt, you want them to simply like hold a line, right, I mean, it is, it is. It is interesting to think of an herbivore as being brave. But yeah, like I mean there are I mean, I guess also like elephants, and there are many other hippos. Well, hippos are actually

super aggressive and will destroy you. But donkeys are not super aggressive. They will you know, they will defend themselves. I mean sometimes you know, not to be Missandra here, but male donkeys can tend to be more aggressive than female donkeys. So most guard donkeys are actually females because they they're simply more logical and common rational than the male donkeys, right right, right, that makes sense to me.

It is really charming and wonderful and that like there are donkeys out there who have it's just like this elite force of guard donkeys and they're not you know, it's not like wanton violence that these donkeys are dealing out. They just like, you know, they're they're the kind of bouncer you want. Like they're not going to keep going past the point of like when it's like okay, he

gets it, he's leaving. They're not you know, keep like you know, beating down a guy it's like, yeah, they're what people think the cops are, as opposed to what cops really are, which is like, right, replace cops with donkeys literally anything. Yeah, that would be cute and effective exactly. Yeah, could it be worse anyway, So it certainly worth trying. I agreed the elite donkey force easily bribed with like

little carrots and sugarcubes. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, is feeding like a donkey or a horse a sugar cube? I know that's like a thing. From me, it just felt that that to me started as soon as you said I was like, is that real or is that like a cartoon thing? Um? I think it's real. I mean they don't want to make it as it would be sort of a special treat. Yeah, I think it's not.

It's not something you want to do frequently. It's like when when an animal gets I mean some animals cannot, like they won't necessarily react to sugar that much, but like if they're getting a dose of something more sugary than their normal diet, oh this is great. I mean it's just like with humans. That's why we like, it's just energy in a little it's energy and it's like it is rare to have such a high concentration of sugar.

So when something is rare, we're like, oh, we gotta stock up on this because I found like a gold mine and that's why, you know, we eat so much sugar. Yeah good, it's so good. So donkeys are not only brave, but their intelligence has been underestimated. There still needs to be more research into it. Seems like it's there's just like a weird lack of research into donkey intelligence and

I think that really needs to be uh rectified. Nor Matthews, who is a veterinarian, is one of the few people who has spent over a decade studying donkey cognition, and she believes donkeys are quite intelligent. Uh. They can open and deconstruct fences. They seem to form strong bonds with people and can recognize their own names. They're trainable, and a lot of people who own donkeys compare them to dogs. They say they act very similar lead to just like

oversized dogs. That's pretty rad honestly, I know, just sweet sweet little doggie that you can also ride, but only if they feel like it, so you know that it's an actual bonding activity. Right, right, right, right. You can't force them, yeah, exactly, you have to build respect with them,

just like dogs. There are multiple breeds of donkey, So the largest breed and perhaps most fancy looking, is the who has a long, shaggy coat, who's bread in France, and we're basically the Lamborghini of donkeys during the Middle Ages for French nobility. So you have these rich French nobles like rolling up in there bolts and just you know, rubbing it in all the all the poor people's faces

that they have this fancy shaggy donkey. Right. It's the shag creates a maintenance, the right that has to be part of it. It's just harder to maintain a long haired anything. Yeah, I mean, you know, you gotta trim it Braxit probably yeah. Yeah. There's also the miniature donkey from the Mediterranean area. They weigh around two hundred four hundred pounds, which you compare that to that Lamborghini donkey we talked about, which weighs up to nine hundred pounds.

And then there's the and a losing donkey, which is a Spanish breed who is one of the tallest donkeys. It's more horse like with these very long rabbit like ears. So there are I think, you know, just I'll have these in the show. Nos, just like google different breeds of donkeys. I mean they are they do have some diversity there and there they can be quite stunningly stunningly beautiful, really interesting looking. And it's something I think people don't

necessarily know. They just think donkey is just like kind of one one flavor of donkey, right well, and it is also though except for the yeah, the tall one I can't remember, oh here it is end of Lucian uh is, it's like just ten squatter than a horse. And I think like our human brains immediately disrespect that. We like so like respect height that. It really is just like that's the main difference visually. It feels like

hike biases is everywhere. Even Yeah, they're not short, they're just like shorter, right yeah, yeah, I I it's discrimination, and it is it's wrong. You know, he's poor. They're like they're more braver than horses. They were so important to helping humanity create civilization and we're just like, yeah,

but you're like an inch too short. Yeah, but it's it's the same as like, you know, there's there's the folks who like love the concept of the railway train, and then everyone else it's just like it disappears like you just don't think about any of that. It's just it's just the infrastructure, like you know, yeah, yeah, replace cops with donkeys and replace cars with trains. This is my utopia. This is like you think I'm joking, Like that's that would be a better world. Yeah for sure.

M hm. So we're going to talk about wild asses now. They are the undomesticated wild counterparts too donkeys. So these are not just the feral donkeys. These are the actual wild donkeys that were the progenitors of donkeys. These are what we took from nature and you know, selectively bred to become donkeys. So donkeys were specifically bred from the

wild asses found in Nubia and Somalia. The Somalian wild donkey looks a bit like a cross between a donkey and a zebra because it has these little stripe ease on its legs. It's it looks kind of like a donkey zebra hybrid, but it is not a hybrid. This is just how it is. And the desert origins of the donkey means it was well adapted for a tough, hot,

and often sparse environment. And in addition to having that hardy digestive system and being drought tolerant, those really long ears probably helped keep the wild donkey cool, similar to the African hair, which also has these heat I mean, I know rabbits have big ears, but it has huge ears. And we see this pattern of these really large ears

often in prey species that live in hot climates. Sometimes predators too though, because the ears not only allowed them great hearing, but as blood travels through the large surface area of the ears, it cools them down. So it's like these little air conditioners or their blood. So right, that makes sense. There's a double double utility. It's it's

the radar dish and yeah, exactly exactly. And so while the wild asked species can run as fast as horses, they like their domesticated donkey kindred, are not easily intimidated. They will defend themselves. You know. They don't really have the same condensed, permanent herd structure as like zebras. Like I mentioned earlier, they can have this like loose herd structure where they will socialize and they can actually become

quite large, like up to fifty individuals. They'll like hang out during the day, but then in the evening they kind of dissipate and go their separate ways. So they're like, you know, they're not introverts, they're not like just always cling to the group. They they've got their own stuff going on. But then they'll they're like up to hang So yeah, I think that's kind of nice. Well, and

almost to the other way to look at it. To me, it's like they would rather be at home, but like, look, they go where the work is, so it's like, so, yeah, I gotta I gotta go put in and put in some time at this acre over here because this is where the grass is or whatever. Right, Yes, I mean, I think they do enjoy each other's company though, because it seems like even though they're perfectly capable of defending themselves when resources are more abundant, they do like to

be around each other. And they are very affectionate. You know, when they bond with people, they will like nuzzle you and they will hang out with you. I've seen videos of people who have like house donkeys who like come in the house and like cuddle with them in bed. I was already on the border about like letting my dog sleep in my bed sometimes. I mean she has to sleep in the crate at night, but she'll like wake me up in the morning. Uh, you know with

dog breath. But like having a whole whole ass ass sleep in your bed is a little bit a lot that's wild. Yeah, yeah, I mean you're gonna have a pretty It is a different kind of bed than I own. I suppose. Yeah, you gotta have a structurally stable bed. But there are other species of wild donkey found outside of Africa. Um, such as the ongers Hogs are found all over Asia and the Middle East. They used to have a wider range that included more of the Middle

Eastern Europe, but their populations dwindled. There is probably our fault in case you're wondering. They generally look like a reddish brown donkey with white bellies. They're quite beautiful. Uh. There's also the kiang, which is the largest wild donkey who is found in the Tibetan Plateau in the montane grasslands. Uh.

There are more of a chestnut brown with white bellies. Uh. And they will do this behavior that is really amazing where they will form rings where they face each other with their butts sticking out and start kicking outward at any predators that is foolish enough to try to approach this angry ring of kicking asses with their asses out. That's some like, yeah, that's that's some like basic Greek infantrition. Yeah, they've got like the Spartan I don't remember what that's spartan.

What was it like that structure with the shield. I don't it's like the shield formation thingth like that, something like that, something like that. I didn't pay him enough attention in the you know, history classes, but yeah, like they flanks, uh wolves and stuff. It's really impressive. I

guess it makes sense. And yeah, that's if you're like, if your body is makes it so that kicking backwards is the most effective thing you can do, right, And I mean they can stomp with their front lengths, but the the effectiveness of the of the lens thing that they're doing is like they're sensitive bits like their next and they're right inside and then outside is just like strong butts and kicks coming out for these for these wolves, which I feel a little sorry for the wolves, but

you know, yeah, I mean that that is a little the thing, it's like, actually being a predator in nature sucks so bad. You're just starving. People are like see them as sort of the antagonists and like that they're fearless kind of just going around enjoying murdering, but they live in constant fear and they'll actually be That's why they're so easily intimidated by donkeys is if they're if they're injured, that can be it for them, because if they can't hunt, they're gone. So like, even as minor

injury can actually kill them. All these like back to nature assets like oh, I've a lone wolf. It's like lone wolves could die from a faking paper cut, Like it sucks to be a lone wolf. Yeah, lone wolves like are usually the ones that are gonners. You know. That's the one good lesson we could learn from the Game of Thrones is that actually, no, it's not being a lone wolf. They have a pack formation that's very

suitable for them. But yeah, if you if you want to be a rugged individual, I think donkeys are a much better example because they still care about their community, but they're okay with kind of being on their own as well, and so I think that is a much more. That's a thing to aspire to by it's by necessity, like you you are, you're an individual by necessity, but you that's yeah, that's also true of human lone wolves.

They just don't they don't see the world in a correct way, right, I mean like yeah, but like if you're more of an introvert or solitary person, you can still you know, you can still have the courage of a donkey and defend. Yeah. Yeah, well and and know that you're you know, it's all built off of this society that we have all agreed, you know, helps each other, even if you don't exactly, yes, exactly. So we have to play quick game of gifts. Who's squawking? Last week's Mr.

Animals sound was with this hint. It has a prehensile tail, a hunger for eucalyptus and fresh meat. This is Australia's brush tail possum. So congratulations to Joey P who gets correctly, and to runner up Ido R who gets a possum. But the North American variety, so not quite right. So the brush tail possum is a marsupial found in Australia.

They're like the opossums we have in the US, uh in terms of both being marsupials, but they're actually not all that closely related, so they're not they're related and that they're both marsupials, but they're not the super most closely related of the marsupials. So the Australian brush tail possum looks like a giant mouse with a fluffy, brushy tail. It's extremely adorable, but like the American opossum, they are adept at taking an advantage of human habitation in raid gardens,

kitchens and trash cans, or even boxes of pastries. There's this really cute picture of possum just inside a box of pastries, jam all over its mouth. Tommy distended. It's my favorite picture and I feel like it represents me the most of any animal. While they do eat a lot of eucalyptus, they won't turn their nose up at fresh meat. They will eat rats or other small animals.

So onto this week's mry animal sound the hint. I know Father's Day was a couple weeks ago, but it's still not too late to celebrate the amazing dad who makes this sound. M m m m if you think you know the answer, you can write to me at Creature feature Pod at gmail dot com. Well, thank you so much for joining me today. Where can people find you? Oh, I guess just enter tea on anything must musmall t I yos. This racist is going on tour, so we can go to suboptimal pods dot com and find out tickets.

What are we doing Boston, Boston, Austin, Minneapolis and Brooklyn currently. I think that is honestly probably gonna be our main shows. But yeah, that's that's it. That's where you can find awesome. Please do it because you know that is It's a great podcast, and I thought the blog was great. Thank you appreciate, Thank you so much for joining. If you're enjoying the podcast, you know to leave a review and I you print out all the reviews and I am adding it to my paper mache man and you know,

so please help me with that project. Thanks to the Space Classics for their super awesome song Exo Alumina. Creature features a production of I Heart Radio for more podcasts like the one you just heard, visiting I heard Radio app Apple podcast Day. Hey guess what wherever you listen to your favorite shows and I did that in one breath. Amazing. See you next Wednesday. M