African donkey

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African donkey
Equus africanus somaliensis.jpg

African donkey ( Equus asinus )

Systematics
Subclass : Higher mammals (Eutheria)
Superordinate : Laurasiatheria
Order : Unpaired ungulate (Perissodactyla)
Family : Horses (Equidae)
Genre : Horses ( equus )
Type : African donkey
Scientific name
Equus asinus
Linnaeus , 1758

The African donkey ( Equus asinus , partly also Equus africanus ), also called real donkey to distinguish it from the Asian donkey or half donkey , is a species of mammal from the horse family ( Equidae ); it is the ancestral form of the house urchin ( Equus asinus asinus ). The horse species is only found in a few areas in northeastern Africa and is highly endangered in the wild. There it inhabits desert-like and mountainous landscapes and feeds on hard and soft plants. Since the Syrian donkey became extinct , the African donkey has been the smallest recent species of the horse genus.

features

Habitus

African wild ass with clearly striped legs

The African donkey reaches a head and trunk length of around 200 cm, a shoulder height of 110 to 140 cm, a tail length of 45 cm and a weight of around 250 to 275 kg. Compared to the trunk, the head is very large and has long, bag-shaped ears that can reach over 20 cm. The fur is gray-brown on the upper side and can take on a red tinge in summer, the stomach and legs are usually lighter, almost whitish. Within the individual subspecies, however, the fur colors vary more clearly. Usually there is a dark back stripe ( eel line ), sometimes one or two horizontal stripes appear in the shoulder area. The legs are strikingly striped, which sets the African donkey apart from the Asian donkey. The mane is short and thin as well as erect and softer than that of the wild horse ( Equus ferus ). In contrast to the tail-like tail of the wild horse, that of the African donkey ends in a tassel.

As with all horses , the legs of the African donkey end in a single hoofed toe. The hooves are adapted to a stony surface and geared more towards surefootedness than speed, they are elongated and narrower than those of the other members of his family. Furthermore, there are often callus-like elevations of a brownish color, so-called chestnuts , which in the real donkey are only formed on the front legs on the legs above the pastern joint .

Skull and dentition features

The skull of the African donkey is built similarly to that of the Asian donkey, but differs significantly from those of the other horse species. It becomes up to 33 cm long and has a long, narrow shape, with the snout part being rather short as in the Asian donkey and the kiang ( Equus kiang ). As a result, the bones of the facial skull rise significantly more steeply to the forehead compared to the wild horse and the zebra, so that the frontal bone is not visible when viewed from behind. In contrast to the Asian donkey, the African representative has a longer postorbital skull area. The occiput is less clearly rectangular and flat than that of the wild horse. The nasal bone has a weak shape and, as in all horse species, is not connected to the intermaxillary bone , but lies behind it, which creates a large interior space .

The lower jaw is strongly built and can be over 20 cm long. It has a high jawbone and strong joints. The bite is like all horses hardly reduced and has the following dental formula: . The incisors are shaped like a chisel, but change their shape over time. At first they are relatively wide and narrow, but with wear and tear they get thicker and thicker. The canine is rather small. There is a wide diastema from it to the rear dentition . The premolars and molars have a similar structure. They have high tooth crowns ( hypsodont ) and clearly folded enamel , but the folds are somewhat simpler than those of the zebras and wild horses. The posterior enamel folds on the lower molars run between the two protrusions metaconid and metastylid rather V-shaped, which means that the African donkey belongs to the stenonine and thus more original group of today's horses.

Sensory performances and vocalizations

The African donkeys used in both the sense of sight and the hearing and sense of smell to communication . Important for olfactory perception is flehmen with a raised, stretched head, raised upper lip and angled edges of the nose. A total of five different vocalizations are known. The typical donkey sound is the most complex type and is emitted at intraspecific encounters, during copulation , encounters with opponents or by the foal when separating from the mother animal. An audible sniff occurs when encounters with other animal species, while grunts and growls count as sounds of aggression. A snort indicates danger and is used by alarmed animals.

Distribution area and habitat

Today's distribution of the African wild ass

The current range of the African donkey is limited to northeastern Africa ( Ethiopia , Eritrea and Somalia ), where only a few hundred of these animals live. Individual populations are also assumed for Egypt , Sudan and Djibouti , but there has been no reliable information here for some years. The population density is very low and is given as 0.6 individuals per 100 km² for Ethiopia. The original distribution area once covered all of North Africa (from Morocco to Somalia) and the Arabian Peninsula (from Mesopotamia to Yemen ). The horse species disappeared from large parts of its distribution area as early as Roman times . Their populations have continued to decline due to hunting, habitat destruction, mixing with feral house urchins and the transmission of diseases from them.

The habitat comprises dry, hilly or mountainous regions, mostly with stony subsoil. The African donkey is found in Ethiopia up to an altitude of 2000 m. These regions are overgrown with bushland or steppe , but are generally considered barren. Furthermore, the inhabited landscape is characterized by harsh climatic conditions with high temperatures that can reach up to 50 ° C. In historical times, its distribution area in the east overlapped with that of the Asiatic donkey, which however preferred deeper and flatter landscapes.

In contrast to the African donkey, feral house donkeys are widespread worldwide; in addition to the original distribution area of ​​the African donkey, they can also be found in numerous other countries where they were introduced by humans. For example, there are large wild populations in Australia and the USA . Several million wild animals live in central and northern Australia alone.

Way of life

Territorial behavior

As a nocturnal and diurnal animal, the African donkey searches for food at different times of the day, but in the greatest heat of the day it usually rests. He lives mainly solitary, there is a closer bond only between the mother and the newborn foal. However, there are also groups that are often small with up to six individuals. These flocks can be single-sex or mixed, with no set hierarchy in the group. Leadership animals change constantly, which occurs without aggressive confrontation. When hiking, paths and paths are often used and some of them are marked with faeces . Occasionally, several small groups meet and form larger groups of more than 60 animals. To a large extent, however, this only takes place during the ingestion of food;

Dominant stallions sometimes also have territories that are also marked with urine and feces , whereby the feces are often formed into high piles. The territories can cover 12 to 40 km², the distances are 4 to 7 km. Usually the territories are only held for a few weeks. However, the owner defends his territory against intruders during this time. Other conspecifics are first sniffed and then driven away, but serious disputes rarely occur, but bite marks are known.

nutrition

African wild ass while eating

Like all horses, the African donkey is a herbivore that primarily eats dry and thorny desert plants ( browsing ), but also grasses ( grazing ). At least 39 species of plants are known to be consumed by this species of horse. The most common are the Indian flea seeds , but also Parkinsonia . Overall, almost two thirds of the food spectrum consists of soft leaf food, followed by almost one third of perennial plants . Hard grasses sometimes play a subordinate role. Alluvial forests , which are particularly popular in summer, are particularly important . Due to its opportunistic food intake, the African wild ass can have a negative influence on desert and steppe vegetation, especially in areas where it was not originally native.

Water points are important because of the very dry habitats and should be 4 to 6 km away. But the animals also run up to 30 km to get to water. Since the horse species is adapted to dry areas, individual animals can survive a water loss of up to 30% of their body weight. The water balance takes place in short drinking phases of four to five minutes, during which up to 30 liters of fluid can be absorbed.

Reproduction

Mare with young animal

A female African wild ass is sexually mature at around one and a half years, but a mare usually gives birth to her first foal at two to three years of age. Stallions reached sexual maturity at the age of two. Mares are usually ready to mate all year round, the oestrus can last up to eight days. Often the mating takes place only on the part of dominant, territorial stallions. Mating usually takes place in the rainy season and is ritualized. Mares assume a conspicuous stance with their hind legs open while the stallion sniffs their genitals . Occasionally the female lashes backwards, but mostly it runs away, whereupon the male follows it up to 20 m. The sexual act begins with the stallion sitting on the mare, ejaculation occurs very quickly. The whole process is connected with numerous vocalizations, mostly on the part of the stallion. After that, both animals eat and separate.

After a gestation period of around twelve months - 330 to 370 days are stated - the mare usually gives birth to a single, rarely two young animals. The mother and foal have a close bond and are initially very close to each other, often only a meter apart. During this time the foal is also strongly protected by the mother animal. The young animal begins to eat plant food on the fifth day, but is not weaned before the twelfth month. During this time, the distances between mother and young also begin to increase and are up to ten meters. The maximum age of the African donkey is over 20 years.

Interaction with other animal species

There are no known predators of the African donkey, this also applies to the feral domestic donkeys in the USA and Australia. A high mortality rate in young animals is due to the poor health of the animals under extreme climatic conditions. In the natural distribution areas there is an overlap with large animals used for agriculture.

Parasites

Little is known about parasite infestation . Often come nematodes before, of which about a dozen species are detected at the African donkey. The infestation by these endoparasites often occurs in cold seasons . Furthermore, the paratuberculosis described as actually more typical for ruminants has been proven.

Systematics

Internal systematics of the genus Equus according to Jónsson et al. 2014
  Equus  
  caballines  

 Equus caballus


  non-caballines  


 Equus zebra


   

 Equus grevyi 


   

 Equus quagga




   

 Equus asinus


   

 Equus kiang


   

 Equus hemionus






Template: Klade / Maintenance / Style

The African donkey represents a member of the genus Equus , which includes today's modern horses. Within this genus it belongs to the group of stenonine or non-caballine horses, which are characterized by the morphology of the lower molars. Furthermore, it is sometimes placed in its own sub-genus with the name Asinus . Recent DNA analyzes show a close relationship to the Asian donkey and the kiang. The closest related horse species include the various donkeys and zebras, while the wild horse is further out.

As a rule, a distinction is made between three subspecies, but some of them have several synonyms:

  • Donkey ( . E. a asinus Linnaeus , 1758; Synonym: E. a domesticus. , E. a mureybeiti. , E. a palestinae. , E. a vulgaris. ); smallest subspecies, domestic donkey
  • Nubian wild ass ( E. a. Africanus ( Heuglin & Fitzinger , 1867); synonym: E. a. Dianae ); slightly smaller subspecies with 110 to 122 cm shoulder height. Probably extinct. The last specimen was shot in northern Sudan in 1970.
  • Somali wild ass ( E. a. Somaliensis ( Noack , 1884), synonym: E. a. Nubianus , E. a. Somalicus ); larger subspecies with 125 to 130 cm shoulder height

While E. a. asinus embraces the domestic donkey, E. a. africanus and E. a. somaliensis represent the two wild subspecies of the wild ass. E. a. africanus rather in the northern (Nubia, Nile valley) and E. a. somaliensis is more likely to be found in the southern (Ethiopia, Eritrea) distribution area. In some cases, Equus asinus melkeinsis is another subspecies that Belkacem Bagtache and colleagues established in 1984. The form existed in the late Pleistocene and was mainly in North Africa, in what is now Algeria . But it died out in the early Holocene . Other authors also see them as a distinct species. The form Equus asinus atlanticus from Algeria, described by Oldfield Thomas in 1894, has turned out to be an extinct representative of the plains zebra from the Pleistocene and is now listed under E. quagga mauritanicus . It is also sometimes considered to be an independent species. At the beginning of the 1930s, the name E. a. atlanticus used again, but referred to rock art of the Neolithic in Algeria. Sometimes referred to as the "Atlas Wild Ass", however, the scientific name is invalid.

The valid scientific species name is Equus asinus and was established by Linnaeus in 1758, but referred to the domestic donkey . Of Theodor von Heuglin and Leopold Fitzinger the name comes Equus africanus , they 1867 Asinus africanus introduced, Fitzinger had but those already mentioned. 1857 This species name, which refers to the distribution of the African donkey in Nubia and Northeast Africa, was proposed in 1966 by Colin Peter Groves for the wild form of the African donkey. In 2003, with Opinion 2027 , the ICZN created a regulation for the designation of wild and domestic animals, which separates the two on a species level. Accordingly, the scientific name for the African donkey is Equus africanus , and that for the domestic donkey is Equus asinus . Since both forms can be crossed without restriction and the following generations are fertile , this view is controversial, taking into account the priority rule of the ICZN, Equus asinus has priority as the older name. It is asinus the old Latin term for "donkey" and comes from the ancient word asnos , which was originally in the region of Asia Minor was used for the animal.

The first horses of the Stenonine line reached Africa in the Pliocene and were preforms of the wild ass and the zebras. Equus tabeti is seen as a possible ancestor of the African donkey , which first appeared in North Africa in the early Pleistocene and reached western Asia in the late Pleistocene . Fossil finds of the African donkey are rare, however, some early remains from the late Pistocene have been proven. The oldest finds from Syria are known in the Holocene , dating back to around 9000 BC. To be dated. A hybrid with the Asiatic donkey is first found in Palestine from around 3000 BC. Chr. Reported.

African donkey and man

Domestication

House donkey

The African donkey is the trunk form of the house donkey and can be fertile crossed with it. However, the African donkey was originally used by the early hunter-gatherer groups as a source of food and raw materials. An important reference in this context is a skeleton find of a donkey in Umm el Tlel in Syria, which is around 50,000 years old and in whose third cervical vertebra a broken Levallois tip stuck as a legacy of the active hunt for the animal. The domestication then sat probably already v before 4000th In Egypt . The oldest and most complete finds of domesticated donkeys include those from a burial chamber near Abydos , they were presented in 2008 by a team led by Stine Rossel and Fiona B. Marshall . The complete donkey skeletons buried there come from one of the founding dynasties of the Ancient Egyptian Empire from around 3000 BC. Chr. Anatomical studies suggest that the subspecies E. a. africanus served here as the starting point for domestication. Pathological findings on the vertebrae again show that the horse species was not primarily used as food, but as a pack animal. However, there are individual indications that the development of the houseleg was already in the predynastic period. These include around 40 bone finds from Tell el-Iswid in Lower Egypt and a single tooth from Nagada in Middle Egypt. They are each relatively small animals that are roughly in the middle between the African wild ass and the domestic donkey.

Genetic findings from 2004 also point to the Nubian wild ass as the starting form. However, they pointed out that the house donkey may have been domesticated several times. This could be confirmed in later analyzes, according to which two clades of the house donkey can be distinguished and each represent independent domestication processes. Clade 1 largely corresponds to today's house donkey and probably originated in northern Africa. The animals can not be distinguished from the Nubian wild ass in their mitochondrial DNA . As the second domestication group, Clade 2 is closer to the Somali wild ass, but is not identical to it. In contrast to clade 1 , it goes back to a smaller starting group. Their exact origin and their ancestral form could not be identified more precisely due to the genetic characteristics. Finds from Mesopotamia and Iran are known only a little later . More see under house donkey .

Threat and protection

African donkey in the Chai Bar Jotvata game reserve in Israel
African donkey (subspecies Equus asinus somaliensis ) in Hanover Zoo

As mentioned above, the African donkey disappeared from much of its range early on. In modern times there were still wild asses in Ethiopia , Eritrea , Somalia and Sudan . The wild ass population was estimated to be 1,500 in Sudan and 2,000 in Ethiopia in the 1980s, but has continued to decline dramatically since then. Eritrea is the only country with a reasonably stable wild ass population of around 400 animals that are common in the north of the country. Another 200 animals are suspected to be in the Afar triangle in Ethiopia . Experts for the valley of the Nugaal assume low stocks in Somalia . The main threats are the unstable political situation in the region. In Somalia, the wild ass has now presumably been brought to the brink of extinction due to civil war and anomie in the country. In addition, the African donkey is subject to local hunting as a basic food source, but also as a medicine against tuberculosis , rheumatism and pain. Competition with humans and their livestock for drinking water and pastureland, especially with local shepherds, leads to the killing of wild asses. Because of this, the IUCN has listed the species as critically endangered ("threatened with extinction").

Several national parks were proclaimed to protect the African wild ass , such as the Yangudi Rassa National Park with 4,731 km² and the Mille Serdo Wild Ass Reserve with 8,766 km², both in Ethiopia. However, available financial resources and well-trained staff are rather limited. In Eritrea, the region between the Buri Peninsula and the Dalool Depression was advertised as a conservation area with high priority. In Somalia, however, there are no national parks to protect the remaining small populations. A small herd was also introduced to the Chai Bar Jotvata game reserve in Israel . The protection efforts of the Equid Specialist Group of the IUCN include further investigation of the occurrence and distribution of the wild ass, the involvement of the local population in the active conservation of the horse species and the training of local scientists.

Conservation breeding

In 1970, the then director of Basel Zoo, Ernst Michael Lang, bought five African donkeys from an animal dealer in Kenya at a price of 40,000 Swiss francs each . Lang paid a significant part of the purchase price out of pocket. The first young animal was born in 1972. All Somali wild asses in scientifically managed zoological gardens descend from this group today. As part of the European Conservation Breeding Program (EEP) of the European Zoo Association EAZA , around 200 specimens of this subspecies, which are almost extinct in nature, live in 36 zoos. In 2014, Basel Zoo recorded its 41st birth with “Lakisha”. EEP coordinator is Oliver Pagan at Basel Zoo.

literature

  • Roger M. Blench: A history of donkeys, wild asses and mules in Africa. In: Roger M. Blench and Kevin MacDonald (Eds.): The origins and development of African livestock. Archeology, genetics, linguistics and ethnography. UCL Press, London 2000, pp. 339-354 ( PDF; 298 kB ).
  • Martha I. Grinder, Paul R. Krausman and Robert S. Hoffmann. Equus asinus. Mammalian Species 794, 2006, pp. 1-9.
  • Patricia D. Moehlman (Ed.): Equids: Zebras, Asses, and Horses: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan . IUCN / SCC Equid Specialist Group, IUCN (The World Conservation Union), Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, 2002.
  • Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Martha I. Grinder, Paul R. Krausman and Robert S. Hoffmann. Equus asinus. Mammalian Species 794, 2006, pp. 1-9.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Patricia D. Moehlman: Behavioral patterns and communication in feral asses (Equus africanus). Applied Animal Behavior Science 60, 1998, pp. 125-169.
  3. ↑ a b c Patricia D. Moehlman: Status and Action Plan for the African Wild Ass (Equus africanus). In: Patricia D. Moehlman (Ed.): Equids: Zebras, Asses, and Horses: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN / SCC Equid Specialist Group, IUCN (The World Conservation Union), Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, 2002, pp. 2–10.
  4. ↑ a b c d Patritcia D. Moehlman, H. Yohannes, R. Teclai and F. Kebede: Equus africanus . In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.1, last accessed June 27, 2012.
  5. ^ Roger Blench: The history and spread of donkeys in Africa. In: P. Starkey and D. Fielding (Eds.) :, Donkeys, people and development. A resource book of the Animal Traction Network for Eastern and Southern Africa. ATNESA Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), Wageningen, The Netherlands, 2004, pp. 22-30, ISBN 92-9081-219-2 .
  6. ^ Australian Government: Feral horde (Equus caballus) and feral donkey (Equus asinus). Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities ( PDF ).
  7. ^ A b c Hans Klingel: Observations on social organization and behavior of African and Asiatic Wild Asses (Equus africanus and Equus hemionus). Applied Animal Behavior Science 60, 1998, pp. 103-113 (reprint, original publication in Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, 44, 1977, pp. 323-331).
  8. ↑ HI Seri, T. Hassan, MM Salih and AD Akabar: A survey of gastrointestinal nematodes in donkeys (Equus asinus) in Khartoum State, Sudan. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances 3 (11), 2004, pp. 736-739.
  9. ↑ SH Hosseini, B. Meshgi, A. Eslami, S. Bokai, M. Sobhani and R. Ebrahimi Samani: Prevalence and biodiversity of helminth parasites in donkeys (Equus asinus) in Iran. International Journal of Veterinary Research 3 (2), 2009, pp. 95-99.
  10. ↑ Birgit Stief, Petra Möbius, Heidemarie Türk, Uwe Hörügel, Carina Arnold and Dietrich Pöhle: Paratuberculosis in a dwarf donkey (Equus asinus f. Asinus). Berliner and Münchener Tierärztliche Wochenschrift 125, 2012, pp. 3–44.
  11. ↑ a b Hákon Jónsson, Mikkel Schubert, Andaine Seguin-Orlando, Aurélien Ginolhac, Lillian Petersen, Matteo Fumagallic, Anders Albrechtsen, Bent Petersen, Thorfinn S. Korneliussen, Julia T. Vilstrup, Teri Lear, Jennifer Leigh Myka, Judith Lundquist, Donald C. Miller, Ahmed H. Alfarhan, Saleh A. Alquraishi, Khaled AS Al-Rasheid, Julia Stagegaard, Günter Strauss, Mads Frost Bertelsen, Thomas Sicherheitsitz-Ponten, Douglas F. Antczak, Ernest Bailey, Rasmus Nielsen, Eske Willerslev and Ludovic Orlando: Speciation with gene flow in equids despite extensive chromosomal plasticity. PNAS 111 (52), 2014, pp. 18655-18660.
  12. ↑ Ann Forstén: Mitochondrial DNA time-table and the evolution of Equus: comparison of molecular and paleontological evidence. Annales Zoologici Fennici 28, 1992, pp. 301-309.
  13. ↑ Ludovic Orlando, Jessica L. Metcalf, Maria T. Alberdi, Miguel Telles-Antunes, Dominique Bonjean, Marcel Otte, Fabiana Martin, Véra Eisenmann, Marjan Mashkour, Flavia Morello, Jose L. Prado, Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi, Bruce J. Shockey, Patrick J. Wrinn, Sergei K. Vasil'ev, Nikolai D. Ovodov, Michael I. Cherry Blair Hopwood, Dean Male, Jeremy J. Austin, Catherine Hänni, and Alan Cooper: Revising the recent evolutionary history of equids using ancient DNA . PNAS 106, 2009, pp. 21754-21759.
  14. ↑ Samantha A. Price and Olaf RP Bininda-Emonds: A comprehensive phylogeny of extant horses, rhinos and tapirs (Perissodactyla) through data combination. Zoosystematics and Evolution 85 (2), 2009, pp. 277-292.
  15. ↑ a b Birgitta Kimura, Fiona B. Marshall, Shanyuan Chen, Sónia Rosenbom, Patricia D. Moehlman, Noreen Tuross, Richard C. Sabin, Joris Peters, Barbara Barich, Hagos Yohannes, Fanuel Kebede, Redae Teclai, Albano Beja-Pereira and Connie J. Mulligan: Ancient DNA from Nubian and Somali wild ass provides insights into donkey ancestry and domestication. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 278, 2011, pp. 50-57, doi: 10.1098 / rspb.2010.0708 .
  16. ↑ Raymond L. Bernor, Miranda J. Armor-Chelu, Henry Gilbert, Thomas M. Kaiser and Ellen Schulz: Equidae. In: Lars Werdelin and William L. Sanders (eds.): Cenozoic Mammals of Africa. University of California Press, 2010, pp. 685-721.
  17. ↑ Colin P. Groves and C. Smeenk: The nomenclature of the African wild ass. Zoologische Mededelingen Leiden 81, 2007, pp. 121-135 ( PDF ).
  18. ↑ Anthea Gentry, Juliet Clutton-Brock and Colin P. Groves: The naming of wild animal species and their domestic derivatives. Journal of Archaeological Science 31, 2004, pp. 645-651.
  19. ↑ Wolfgang Zessin, Elke Gröning and Carsten Brauckmann: Comments on the systematics of recent Equidae (Mammalia). Ursus, Mitteilungsblatt des Zooverein und des Zoo Schwerin 15 (1), 2009, pp. 20–31.
  20. ↑ David M. Sherman: Tending animals in the global village. Blackwell Pub., 2002, 495 pp., ISBN 0-683-18051-7 ( [1] ).
  21. ↑ Eric Boёda, JM Geneste and C. Griggo: A Levallois point embedded in the vertebra of a wild ass (Equus africanus): hafting, projectiles and Mousterian hunting weapons. Antiquity 73, 1999, pp. 394-402.
  22. ↑ Stine Rossel, Fiona B. Marshall, Joris Peters, Tom Pilgram, Matthew D. Adams and David O'Connor: Domestication of the donkey: Timing, processes, and indicators. PNAS 105 (1), 2008, pp. 3715-3720.
  23. ↑ Achilles Gautier and Wim van Neer: Animal remains from predynastic sites in the Nagada region, Middle Egypt. Archaeofauna 18, 2009, pp. 27-50.
  24. ^ Peter Mitchell: The Donkey in Human History: An Archaeological Perspective. Oxford University Press, 2018, pp. 1–305 (pp. 14–71)
  25. ^ Joséphine Lesur: Fishing and herding in the Nile Delta during the Predynastic (4th Millennium BC). In: C. Çakırlar, J. Chahoud, R. Berthon and S. Pilaar Birch: Archeozoology of the Near East XII: Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium of the ICAZ Archeozoology of Southwest Asia and Adjacent Areas Working Group, Groningen Institute of Archeology, June 14-15 2015, University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Groningen, 2018, pp. 59–72.
  26. ↑ Albano Beja-Pereira, Phillip R. England, Nuno Ferrand, Steve Jordan, Amel O. Bakhiet, Mohammed A. Abdalla, Marjan Mashkour, Jordi Jordana, Pierre Taberlet, Gordon Luikart: African Origins of the Domestic Donkey. Science 304, 2004, p. 1781.
  27. ↑ Equid Specialist Group: . African Wild Ass ( [2] ).
  28. ↑ Basel Zoo: Young offspring of Somali wild asses and pygmy goats. April 9, 2014 ( [3] ).

Web links

Commons : African Donkey ( Equus africanus )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files