mule
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(myūl) 
n.
mule2 (myūl)
n.
A slipper or shoe that has no counter or strap to fit around the heel.
n.
- The sterile hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse, characterized by long ears and a short mane.
- A sterile hybrid, as between a canary and other birds or between certain plants.
- Informal. A stubborn person.
- A spinning machine that makes thread or yarn from fibers. Also called spinning mule.
- A small, usually electric tractor or locomotive used for hauling over short distances.
- Slang. A person who serves as a courier of illegal drugs.
[Middle English, from Old French mul and from Old English mūl, both from Latin mūlus.]
mule2 (myūl)
n.
A slipper or shoe that has no counter or strap to fit around the heel.
[Probably French, slipper, possibly from Middle Dutch muil, ultimately from Latin mulleus (calceus), reddish-purple (ceremonial shoe).]
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Offspring of a male ass and a female horse. The less common cross of a female ass and a male horse is called a hinny. Most mules are sterile. The mule resembles the horse in height and in shape of neck and croup (rump); it resembles the ass in its long ears, small hooves, and short mane. The coat is usually brown or bay. Mules are 1217.5 hands (5070 in., 120180 cm) high and weigh 6001,500 lbs (275700 kg). They have been used as pack animals for at least 3,000 years because of their ability to withstand hardships.
For more information on mule, visit Britannica.com.
A hybrid sired by a male ass (Equus asinus) out of a female horse (E. caballus). The opposite cross, very seldom made, produces the hinny (a hybrid between a stallion and a female ass). The mule and the hinny are usually sterile, but two authenticated cases of mules producing living progeny are known. Male mules, often called horse mules, are almost always castrated to make them more tractable as work animals. Mules are noted for their endurance, surefootedness, and ability to stand hard work in hot weather. They can safely be self-fed in lots or corrals, whereas horses cannot. Usually steady and free from nervous excitability, mules can be handled by inexperienced or careless farm labor.
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A mule is a cross between a male donkey and a female horse. The male mule is called a jack and the female is a jennet or a jenny. A smaller cross, the hinny, is from a male horse and a female donkey. Both mules and hinnies are nearly always sterile.
In the formative years of the United States, the attributes of mules, horses, and oxen were the subject of much debate. Mules traveled at 2½ miles per hour. Oxen were slower, at 2 m.p.h. The faster speed could save a week or more over that of oxen when going long distances. However, a pair of oxen cost $40 to $160, and mules from $200 up to $400 for a pair. Oxen could graze along the trail, but mules had to be fed grain to supplement the grazing. Grain had to be taken on the wagons; therefore, less paying freight could be hauled. Speed and distance were the main parts of the equation.
Mules could go twenty-four hours without water when they had a light load of under 300 pounds. The standard army mule load was about 150 pounds. A mule was used to pack loads on its back, pull wagons, or be ridden. Mules had more stamina and were more sure-footed than horses and were resistant to disease. Oxen could be slaughtered and eaten when meat was low and wild game impossible to find.
George Washington used his influence to get embargoes removed so mules could be imported from France and Spain. He much preferred mules over horses as work animals. Washington spoke disparagingly of horses when he pronounced, "Horses eat too much, work too little, and die too young." Washington's support of mules and his mule-breeding program was well known. At Mount Vernon, Washington's plantation, many individuals came to observe the mules and later went into the mule business.
Mules were important to the settling of Missouri. The overgrowth of trees and brush had to be cleared enough to make trails and roads, logs had to be cut for houses, and land for fields needed to be reclaimed. Mules were the perfect work animals for these jobs. By the 1871 census, Missouri was ranked as the state with the most mules, 110,000. Nearly half of Missouri farmers either used mules on their farms or bred them as a business. The mule has been the official state animal of Missouri since 1995.
Bibliography
Marcy, Randolph B. The Prairie Traveler: The Best-Selling Handbook for America's Pioneers. Old Saybrook, Conn.: Apple-wood Books, Globe Pequot Press, 1994. Originally published in 1859.
Stamm, Mike. The Mule Alternative: The Saddle Mule in the American West. Battle Mountain, Nev.: Medicine Wolf Press, 1992.
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| Mules on a Farm |
A donkey is a descendant of the wild ass. It is short, with long, floppy ears. The mule is a hybrid offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse. Most mules cannot procreate. The offspring of a female donkey (a jenny) and a male horse is called a hinny. "Burro" is simply another name for donkey. Mules are known for their stick-to-it-ive-ness, which is one reason the term is often used for people who are stubborn. The animals are tough, surefooted, and steady workers. On April 27, 1898, in the early days of the Spanish-American War, US naval forces attacked the Cuban village of Matanzas. The only reported casualty of the battle was a mule. In his honor, the date is celebrated as Matanzas Mule Day.
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From our Archives: Today's Highlights, April 27, 2011
mule, hybrid offspring of a male donkey (see ass) and a female horse, bred as a work animal. The name is also sometimes applied to the hinny, the offspring of a male horse and female donkey; hinnies are considered inferior to mules. The mule has many donkey characteristics-long ears, a tufted tail, slender legs, small hooves, and a loud bray-but it resembles a horse in size and strength. Most mules weigh from 1,100 to 1,400 lb (500-640 kg). They lack the speed of horses, but are more surefooted and have great powers of endurance. Like donkeys, they are of a cautious and temperamental disposition and require expert handling to perform well. Both sexes are sterile. Mules have been bred as pack and draft animals since prehistoric times, and are still used throughout the world, particularly in regions where mechanized farm equipment is uncommon. They have been widely used in the United States, where they were first bred by George Washington, but are now found mainly in the southeastern states. Mules were used extensively for military transport before the advent of mechanization. They are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Perissodactyla, family Equidae.
Word Tutor:
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mule
IN BRIEF: n. - Sterile offspring of a male donkey and a female horse ; A slipper that has no fitting around the heel
Only a mule and a milepost never change their mind.
— Proverb
Tutor's tip: That lazy "mule" (offspring of a horse and donkey) will "mewl" (to whimper) if you add any weight to its kyack.
LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!
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An auxiliary hydraulic power supply that can provide fluid under pressure to an aircraft hydraulic system when the engine is not running. It is meant primarily to test the flight control system and the landing gear operation.
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noun
noun
1: Someone employed as a courier to smuggle illegal drugs into a country and often to pass them on to a buyer. (1922 —) .
E. Mcbain I bought from him a coupla times. He was a mule, Dad. That means he pushed to other kids (1959).verb trans. and intr.
2: To smuggle as a drug mule. (1978 —) .
S. King All dope was nasty stuff...After you muled a few loads of that shit, you could wipe your ass with gold toilet-paper (1990).
[From the role of the mule as a beast of burden.]
noun
1: Someone employed as a courier to smuggle illegal drugs into a country and often to pass them on to a buyer. (1922 —) .
E. Mcbain I bought from him a coupla times. He was a mule, Dad. That means he pushed to other kids (1959).
2: To smuggle as a drug mule. (1978 —) .
S. King All dope was nasty stuff...After you muled a few loads of that shit, you could wipe your ass with gold toilet-paper (1990).
[From the role of the mule as a beast of burden.]
| muggle, muggins, mug-up | |
| mulga wire, muller, mullered |
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1. sterile offspring of a mating between a jack (male donkey) and a mare.
2. a bird-fancier's term for a hybrid bird with one parent, usually the female, a canary, and the other a finch; they are usually sterile. Breeding and exhibiting of these birds is a popular hobby in the UK.
- m. foot — see syndactylism.
- horse m. — the male mule.
- mare m. — the female mule.
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'mule'
- Animal Types and Parts - mule: sterile hybrid between a horse and donkey, esp. between a mare and jack; any sterile hybrid
- horse
- Parts, Practices, and Argot - mule: cable-operated device used to lift coal cars up incline for dumping
- Shoes and Footwear - mule: woman’s low-heeled house shoe or lounging slipper, with upper across open toes
- Behavior or Personality
- Prison and Punishment - mule: Slang. person who smuggles contraband, esp. into jail or prison
See crossword solutions for the clue
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| Mule | |
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| Conservation status | |
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Domesticated
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Equidae |
| Genus: | Equus |
| Species: | Equus asinus x Equus caballus |
| Binomial name | |
| none |
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| Synonyms | |
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- 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). While there is no known instance of a male mule siring offspring, female mules have on very rare occasion given birth to viable offspring. 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 moderately 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 thus, in theory, could carry a fetus, is called a "molly" or "Molly mule," though the term is sometimes used to refer to female mules in general. Pregnancy is rare, but can occasionally occur naturally as well as through embryo transfer. One of several terms for a gelded mule is a "John mule."
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Contents
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Biology
Size and performance
The median weight range for a mule is between about 370 and 460 kg (820 and 1,000 lb).[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, a mule can be packed with "dead weight" of up to 20% of its body weight, or approximately 90 kg (200 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 160 kg (350 lb) the superiority of the mule becomes apparent in their additional endurance.[6]
One of the virtues of the mule is that a mule has the size and ground-covering ability of a horse, but is comparatively stronger than a horse of similar size and inherits the endurance and disposition of the donkey father. Mules also tend to be more independent than most other domesticated equines other than the donkey. For their size mules also tend to require less food than a horse of similar size.
Characteristics
With its short thick head, long ears, thin limbs, small narrow hooves, and short mane, 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 even temper, patience, endurance and sure-footedness of the donkey, and the vigor, strength and courage of the horse. Operators of working animals generally find mules preferable to horses: mules show more patience under the pressure of heavy weights, and their skin is harder and less sensitive than that of horses, rendering 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.
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. This is believed to be the result of hybrid vigor, 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.[citation needed]
Color and size variety
Mules come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors, from minis under 50 lb (20 kg) to maxis over 1,000 lb (500 kg), 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.
Distribution
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reports that China was the top market for mules in 2003, closely followed by Mexico and many Central and South American nations.
Fertility
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, rendering most mules infertile.
There are no recorded cases of fertile mule stallions. A few female mules have produced offspring when mated with a purebred horse or donkey.[9][10] Herodotus gives an account of such an event as an ill omen of Xerxes' conquest of Greece in 480 BC: "There happened also a portent of another kind while he was still at Sardis,—a mule brought forth young and gave birth to a mule" (Herodotus The Histories 7:57).
Since 1527 there have been more than 60 documented cases of foals born to female mules around the world.[9] There are reports that a mule in China produced a foal in 1984.[11][12] 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.[13][14] Blood and hair samples were tested verifying that the mother was a mule and the colt was indeed her offspring.
Modern mules
In the second half of the 20th century, widespread usage of mules declined in industrialized countries. 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 a hobby and continued breeding the great lines of American Mammoth Jacks started in the United States by George Washington with the gift from the King of Spain of two Catalan donkeys. 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.[15] There are still at least sixteen commercial mule pack stations in business in the Sierra Nevada.[16] The Angeles chapter of the Sierra Club has a Mule Pack Section that organizes hiking trips with supplies carried by mules.[17]
Amish farmers, who reject tractors and most other modern technology for religious reasons, 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.[18] 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.
Mule clone
In 2003, researchers at University of Idaho and Utah State University produced the first mule clone as part of Project Idaho.[19] 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.
See also
References
- ^ "Mule Day A Local Legacy". Library Of Congress. http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/es/tn/mule_1.
- ^ Ensminger, M. E. (1990). Horses and Horsemanship: Animal Agriculture Series (Sixth ed.). Danville, IL: Interstate Publishers. ISBN 0-8134-2883-1. pp. 85–87.
- ^ Jackson, Louise A. The Mule Men: A History of Stock Packing in the Sierra Nevada, p. 5 (Mountain Press Publishing Co, Missoula, Montana, 2004). ISBN 0-87842-499-7
- ^ "Mule". The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General. XVII. Henry G. Allen and Company. 1888. pp. 15.
- ^ "Beasts ease burden of quake victims". BBC News. 2005-10-19. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4354440.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-06.
- ^ a b "More With Wayne Carlton On Elk Hunting" Hunter Specialties. Web site accessed June 1, 2009.
- ^ American Endurance Ride Conference (November 2003). "Chapter 3, Section IV: Size". Endurance Rider's Handbook. AERC. http://aerc.org/AERC_Rider_Handbook110303.asp. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
- ^ Proops, Leanne; Faith Burden, Britta Osthaus (2008 -07-18). "Mule cognition: a case of hybrid vigor?" (PDF). Animal Cognition 12 (1): 75. doi:10.1007/s10071-008-0172-1. PMID 18636282. http://www.springerlink.com/content/c7r42628738ll2h8/fulltext.pdf. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
- ^ a b c of case of genetically verified female mule offspring
- ^ "Morocco's miracle mule". BBC News. 2002-02-05. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2290491.stm. Retrieved 2009-02-05. mirror
- ^ A C Chandley, C A Clarke (1985 October). "Cum mula peperit". 78. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. pp. 800–801. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1289943. Retrieved 2009-02-05. mirror
- ^ R. Rong, A.C. Chandley, J. Song, S. McBeath, P.P. Tan, Q. Bai, R.M. Speed (1988). "A fertile mule and hinny in China". 47. Cytogenetics and Genome Research. http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=ShowPDF&ArtikelNr=132531&Ausgabe=236199&ProduktNr=224037&filename=132531.pdf. Retrieved 2008-09-28. mirror
- ^ "Befuddling Birth: The Case of the Mule's Foal". National Public Radio. 2007-07-26. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12260255. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
- ^ Nancy Lofholm (2007-09-19). "Mule's foal fools genetics". Seattle Post Intelligencer. http://www.denverpost.com/haley/ci_6464853.html. Retrieved 2008-09-02-05. mirror
- ^ Louise A. Jackson, The Mule Men: A History of Stock Packing in the Sierra Nevada, (Mountain Press Publishing Co., Missoula, MT, 2004) ISBN 0-87842-499-7
- ^ Eastern Sierra Packers Association
- ^ Mule Pack Section, Angeles Chapter, Sierra Club
- ^ Bearden, Milt (2003) The Main Enemy, The Inside story of the CIA's Final showdown with the KGB
- ^ "Project Idaho". University of Idaho. 2009-05-29. http://www.uidaho.edu/cloning. Retrieved 2009-09-14.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mules |
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Look up mule in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- British Mule Society
- A case of a mule giving birth
- Supply Mules in Kashmir
- 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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Translations:
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Mule
2.
n. - tøffel, smutters
Nederlands (Dutch)
muilezel, stijfkop, bastaard, slipper, fijnspinmachine
Français (French)
1.
n. - (Zool) mule, mule, tête de mule (fam), (Tex) renvideur, mule-jenny
2.
n. - mule (une pantoufle)
Deutsch (German)
1.
n. - Maultier, Dickkopf
2.
n. - Pantoffel
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (ζωολ.) μουλάρι, ημίονος, πασουμάκι, κλωστική μηχανή, ανέμη, πεισματάρης
Italiano (Italian)
mulo, ciabatta, testardo
Português (Portuguese)
n. - mula (f)
Русский (Russian)
мул, упрямец, домашняя туфля без задника
Español (Spanish)
1.
n. - mulo, cabezón, testarudo
2.
n. - chinela, babucha, pantufla
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - sandalett, mula, tjurskalle, bastard, mulstol (spinnmaskin), traktor
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
1. 骡, 杂交动物, 固执的人, 电力牵引机
2. 无后跟的拖鞋
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
1.
n. - 無後跟的拖鞋
2.
n. - 騾, 雜交動物, 固執的人, 電力牽引機
한국어 (Korean)
1.
n. - 노새, 고집을 부리는 사람, 잡종
2.
n. - 뒤축 없는 슬리퍼
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ラバ, 強情者, つっかけ, スリッパ, ばか, 雑種, ミュール精紡機
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) بغل
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - פרד, עקשן, טיפש, בן-כלאיים
n. - נעל-בית, מכונת-טווייה
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