mule

Mule
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Equidae
Genus:	Equus
Species:	E. caballus + E. asinus
Binomial name
none
Synonyms
Equus mulus

Look up mule in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

For other uses, see Mule (disambiguation)

A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse.^[1] Horses and donkeys are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes. Of the two F1 hybrids between these two species, a mule is easier to obtain than a hinny (the offspring of a male horse and a female donkey). All male mules and most female mules are infertile.

The size of a mule and work to which it is put depends largely on the breeding of the mule's dam. Mules can be lightweight, medium weight, or even, when produced from draught horse mares, of moderate heavy weight.^[2]

An aficionado of the mule claims that they are "more patient, sure-footed, hardy and long-lived than horses, and they are considered less obstinate, faster, and more intelligent than donkeys."^[3]

A female mule that has estrus cycles and can carry a fetus is called a "molly" and can occasionally occur naturally as well as through embryo transfer.

Biology

Size and Performance

A white mule grazing in the mountains

The median weight range for a mule is between 800 and 1,000 pounds (363 and 454 kg).^[4]

Although it depends on the individual animal, an army mule can "carry up to 72 kg and walk 26 km without resting."^[5] In general, the rule of thumb is that a mule can be packed with "dead weight" of up to 20% of its body weight, or approximately 91 kilograms (201 lb)^[6] The average equine in general can carry up to approximately 30% of its body weight in "live" weight, such as a rider.^[7] However, while a few mules can carry live weight up to 158 kilograms (348 lb) the superiority of the mule becomes apparent in their additional endurance.^[6]

The virtue of the mule is that a mule is pound-for-pound stronger than a horse of similar size and inherits the strong will and higher intelligence of the donkey father. Mules also tend to require less food than a horse of similar size.

Characteristics

A grey mule

With its short thick head, long ears, thin limbs, small narrow hooves, short mane, absence of chestnuts (horny growths) inside the hocks, the mule shares characteristics of a donkey; in height and body, shape of neck and croup, uniformity of coat, and teeth, it appears horse-like; the mule comes in all sizes, shapes and conformities. There are mules that resemble quarter horses, huge draft mules, fine-boned racing mules, shaggy pony mules and many more types.

A mule does not sound exactly like a donkey or a horse. Instead, a mule makes a sound that is similar to a donkey's but also has the whinnying characteristics of a horse (often starts with a whinny, ends in a hee-haw). Sometimes, mules whimper. The coats of mules come in the same varieties as those of horses. Common colors are sorrel, bay, black, and grey. Less common are white, roans (both blue and red), palomino, dun, and buckskin. Least common are paint mules or tobianos.

The mule possesses the sobriety, patience, endurance and sure-footedness of the donkey, and the vigour, strength and courage of the horse. Operators of working animals generally find mules preferable to horses: mules show less impatience under the pressure of heavy weights, and their skin, harder and less sensitive than that of horses, renders them more capable of resisting sun and rain. Their hooves are harder than horses', and they show a natural resistance to disease and insects. Many North American farmers with clay soil found mules superior as plow animals, especially in the U.S. state of Missouri, hence the expression "stubborn as a Missouri mule".

Mules are generally less tolerant towards dogs than horses are.^{[citation needed]} They are also capable of striking out with any of their hooves in any direction, even sideways if needed.^{[citation needed]}

Mules exhibit a higher cognitive intelligence than their parent species - horses and donkeys. This is believed to be the result of hybrid vigour, similar to how mules acquire greater height and endurance than either parent. ^[8]

Mules are highly intelligent. They tend to be curious by nature. A mule generally will not let the rider put it in harm's way. However, the stereotype of the mule as being stubborn is somewhat unfair and inaccurate.[1]

Mule headcount in 2003

Distribution

FAO reports that China was the top market for mules in 2003 closely followed by Mexico and many Central and South American nations.

Fertility

Several female mules have produced offspring when mated with a purebred horse or donkey.^[9] Since 1527 there have been more than 60 documented cases of foals born to female mules around the world.^[9] There are no recorded cases of fertile mule stallions.^{[citation needed]} Mules and Hinnies have 63 chromosomes, a mixture of the horse's 64 and the donkey's 62. The different structure and number usually prevents the chromosomes from pairing up properly and creating successful embryos.

There are reports that a mule in China produced a foal in 1984.^[10][11]

In Morocco, in early 2002, a mare mule produced a rare foal.^[9]

In 2007 a mule named Kate gave birth to a mule son in Colorado.^[12][13] Blood and hair samples were tested verifying that the mother was a mule and the colt was indeed her offspring.

The modern mule

An "Appaloosa" mule

A pair of mules working a plowing exhibition at The Farnsley-Moreman House in Louisville, Kentucky

Mule moving goods in the car-free Medina in Fes, Morocco

In the 20th century, the use of mules for farming and transportation of agricultural products largely gave way to modern tractors and trucks. However, in the United States, a dedicated number of mule breeders, continued the tradition as hobby and continued breeding the great lines of mammoth jacks started in the United States by George Washington with the gift from the King of Spain of two Catalan jacks. These hobby breeders began to utilize better mares for mule production until today's modern saddle mule emerged. Exhibition shows where mules pulled heavy loads have now been joined with mules competing in Western and English pleasure riding, as well as dressage and show jumping competition. There is now a cable TV show dedicated to the training of donkeys and mules. Mules, once snubbed at traditional horse shows, have been accepted for competition at the most exclusive horse shows in the world in all disciplines.

Mules are still used extensively to transport cargo in rugged roadless regions, such as the large wilderness areas of California's Sierra Nevada mountains. Commercial pack mules are used recreationally, such as to supply mountaineering base camps, and also to supply trail building and maintenance crews, and backcountry footbridge building crews.^[14] There are still at least sixteen commercial mule pack stations in business in the Sierra Nevada. ^[15] The Angeles chapter of the Sierra Club has a Mule Pack Section that organizes hiking trips with supplies carried by mules. ^[16]

Amish farmers, who reject tractors and most other modern technology, commonly use teams of six or eight mules to pull plows, diskers, and other farm equipment, though they use horses for pulling buggies on the road.

During the Soviet war in Afghanistan, the United States used large numbers of mules to carry weapons and supplies over Afghanistan's rugged terrain to the mujahideen.^[17] Use of mules by U.S. forces has continued during the War in Afghanistan (2001-present), and the United States Marine Corps now conducts an 11-day Animal Packers Course at its Mountain Warfare Training Center located in the Sierra Nevada near Bridgeport, California.

The mule clone

In 2003, researchers at University of Idaho and Utah State University produced the first mule clone as part of Project Idaho.^[18] The research team includes Gordon Woods, UI professor of animal and veterinary science, Kenneth L. White, USU professor of animal science, and Dirk Vanderwall, UI assistant professor of animal and veterinary science. The baby mule, Idaho Gem, was born May 4. It is the first clone of a hybrid animal. Veterinary examinations of the foal and its surrogate mother showed them to be in good health soon after birth. The foal's DNA comes from a fetal cell culture first established in 1998 at the University of Idaho.

Color and size variety

Mules today come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors, from minis under 50 pounds to maxis over 1000 pounds, and in many different colors. Mules from Appaloosa mares produce wildly colored mules, much like their Appaloosa horse relatives, but with even wilder skewed colors. The Appaloosa color is produced by a complex of genes known as the Leopard complex (Lp). Mares homozygous for the Lp gene bred to any color donkey will produce an Appaloosa colored mule.

See also

• African Wild Ass
• Donkey
• Horse
• Jennet
• Kiang
• Hinny
• Onager
• 40 acres and a mule

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mules

• British Mule Society
• A case of a mule giving birth
• Supply Mules in Kashmir
• John Henry - One of the world's nicest mules
• Project Idaho
• Western Mule Magazine
• The American Donkey and Mule Society, registers mules of all types/educational information. Also some fertile mule information in FAQ.
• Mule Production (pub.1948) hosted by the UNT Government Documents Department

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