Hungarian Parlagesel
The Hungarian Parlagesel (Hungarian: magyar parlagi szamár ) is an old Hungarian domestic egg breed . The term parlag describes an undeveloped field.
history
The history of the Parlage goes back to the beginning of our era. The first animals came with the Celts in the Carpathian Basin . During the time of Roman rule, the stock developed to a significant extent. Today's donkeys are believed to have descended from these animals, as only a few individuals have been introduced since then.
Although the donkeys were mainly animals of poorer population groups, they were also used for work on manors. They were z. B. Pack animals or shepherds' auxiliary animals. At no time was their economic importance. Breeding donkeys has also not been dealt with for a long time. This changed between the two world wars when large- bodied donkeys were bred in stud farms in Mezőhegyes . The first written mention of the species as a name comes from 1913.
In 1961 the breed disintegrated and the population dispersed. Today the species is mainly kept as a hobby. Most of the animals are in the central part of Hungary. The population is small but is multiplying again.
In 2002 the Magyarországi Szamártenyésztők Egyesülete ("Association of Hungarian Donkey Breeders") was founded, which deals with the entry in the register and in stud books as well as with the economic use of breeding animals. Two years later, the Parlagesel was recognized as an independent breed.
properties
Although donkeys are genetically related to one another, many variants have emerged over the millennia. Three groups can be distinguished:
- The rarest type is of a rather small, graceful build, less than 110 cm. These animals have soft fur and small flexible ears.
- Large-bodied donkeys are also found in small numbers. Animals with these characteristics are descended from specimens imported from Italy to Mezőhegyes. They are taller than 130 cm, of a coarser build. They are less lively than the smaller animals and also less demanding.
- The majority of the stock reaches a size of 110 to 130 cm. The animals have a solid skeleton and a muscular body. They are lively and unpretentious.
The coat color of the Parlagellus can be mouse gray, brown or black. The colors brown, dark brown and black are most common, mouse-gray or beige animals are less common. A typical feature is a back stripe called an eel line along the spine up to the chest. The legs sometimes have zebra-like horizontal stripes. All color variants often have a light underbelly, the so-called swallow belly ( fecskehas ).
There are also so-called baroque specimens, which is due to the fact that these animals were deliberately bred on manors. These animals are born with a lack of pigmentation ( leucism ) due to spontaneous mutation . They often have light gray fur and light blue eyes known as jackdaw eyes ( csókaszem ).
The intelligent animals are easy to train, they are undemanding, have a long lifespan, and are good-natured and peaceful.
swell
- János Tőzsér, Sándor Bedő (ed.): Történelmi állatfajtáink enciklopédiája . Mezőgazda Kiadó, Budapest 2003, ISBN 963-286-059-4 (Hungarian).
Web links
- A magyar parlagi szamár. Association of Hungarian Horse Breeding and Equestrian Organizations, accessed on December 3, 2008 (Hungarian).