Brady Fraser

Dr. Bill Lattin

ENVS 484
6 September 2017

Domestication of the Donkey

When looking at the state of human civilization today, there is no doubt that animal

domestication is extremely important to our culture. Nearly every society seems to practice it,

and the utilization of it provides many uses for us including work, food, and transportation. One

domesticated animal that was historically and continues to be particularly important to humans is

the donkey. Though not as well-known as some of the other major domesticated animals such as

horses, pigs, or cows, its unique ability to carry heavy loads in a desert environment

revolutionized the way early domesticators of this animal were able to live and move, and the

donkey remains an important part of daily life for many cultures around the world today.

There is relatively little direct evidence regarding the timing and exact placement of the

earliest domestication of the donkey, but it is fairly evident that the modern donkey originated

somewhere in northeast Africa, and its domestication happened around six thousand years ago

(Rossel). Who domesticated it first and from what species it comes from remain unclear,

although there is some ancient and modern evidence relating to these questions. The timing of

domestication of this animal is particularly interesting as well, because although it was

previously thought that domestication events were rare and likely happened only once in a given

geographic area for most of the large domestic animals we have today, it seems likely that the

domestication of the donkey could have occurred more than once in the relatively small area of

northeast Africa (Rossel). This is for a variety of reasons. All modern donkeys are descendants

of the African wild ass, Equus africanus, though there are two clades of domestic donkeys today

that come from two distinct subspecies, the Nubian wild ass and the Somali wild ass (Rossel).

According to Juliet Clutton-Brock in her book Horse Power, the two wild subspecies differ
Brady Fraser
Dr. Bill Lattin
ENVS 484
6 September 2017

mostly in coloring and size (36). The Nubian wild ass has a noticeable stripe on its shoulders,

and the Somali wild ass has stripes on its legs and is distinctly taller and more horse-like than the

short and stocky Nubian wild ass (36). Clutton-Brock states that we can infer from ancient

Egyptian art that the domestic donkeys they used were descended from the Nubian wild ass, due

to their depiction as always having shoulder stripes and no leg stripes (36). The modern donkeys,

however, are often a mix of both subspecies, suggesting that either they were separately

domesticated and then bred, or that at some point during domestication the species descending

from the Nubian ass were intentionally placed near wild populations of Somali ass in hopes that

they would mate and produce stronger offspring (Clutton-Brock 36). Anthony Dent also states in

his book Donkey, that it seems likely that donkeys of each subspecies were separately

domesticated and bred together by humans multiple times in ancient history (28). Regardless of

the exact ancestral origin of the modern donkey, the amount of varying genetic and historical

evidence surrounding it suggests that the use and domestication of donkeys was probably quite

widespread, and likely stretches back further than we have direct evidence of (Kimura). The

earliest clear proof of domestication, however, dates to around 3000 B.C.E., and comes from

obvious signs of load bearing and morphological differences from wild asses on donkey

skeletons unearthed in a tomb at Abydos, Egypt (Rossel). Though this is officially the earliest

known evidence of the domestic donkey, the first domestication almost certainly predates this

significantly, but it is hard to identify an animal in the early stages of domestication because

morphological differences may not appear and their genetic makeup is only marginally different

from that of a wild ass (Kimura). Either way, this time is essentially where our history of the

domestic donkey begins. Based on what we know about donkeys and how ancient peoples in the
Brady Fraser
Dr. Bill Lattin
ENVS 484
6 September 2017

region lived, we can speculate on why the donkey was domesticated when it was and what it was

used for in ancient times.

Before domestication the wild ass was already an animal suited well to doing work that

would benefit human societies. It can subsist on the dry grasses and shrubs found in the arid

landscape of northeast Africa, it has an adaptable metabolic rate, and it can survive for long

periods with little water due to multiple methods of water storing (Kimura). It was also hardy

and strong, capable of walking long distances with added weight. Since donkeys are not large

enough to ride, it follows that they were almost certainly domesticated for the purpose of pack-

carrying (Dent 32). This could have been for a variety of practical purposes. One possible

purpose is for the aid of nomadic cattle herders. Cattle were domesticated much earlier than

donkeys in this region, but as the land began to dry up, herding cattle became much more

difficult (Kimura). It is likely that as cattle herders had to travel farther and farther with less

resources in between grazing areas and watering holes, they began to take advantage of the

donkey, which needed far less resources than the cattle and was capable of carrying many useful

resources at the same time, including food and water (Dent 33). Historical evidence suggesting

this is limited, but the Masai of Kenya still live in exactly this way and it is reasonable to suspect

that other cultures did in the past as well (Dent 34). Donkeys of today are also used as draught

animals, or animals which are used to pull loads such as carts or ploughs, so it is possible that

they were used in this way in ancient Africa as well, but any consideration of this is mostly

speculation (Dent 33). Regardless of their exact use, domestic donkey skeletons have been found

dating to 3000 B.C.E., and they were widely depicted in ancient cave art and ancient Egyptian art
Brady Fraser
Dr. Bill Lattin
ENVS 484
6 September 2017

(Clutton-Brock). This array of evidence shows that the donkey played an important role in the

lives of many peoples even in the very early stages of human civilization.

According to Clutton-Brock, the first written record that exists regarding the use of

domestic donkeys comes from ancient Sumerian writings, dating to around 2500 B.C.E (89).

These detailed writings give us a much better idea of how donkeys were actually used in ancient

societies. They show that donkeys were commonly used in Sumer as draught animals, and small

number of a close relative of the donkey known as the onager, or Asiatic wild ass, was kept for

breeding with donkeys (Clutton-Brock 89). It would seem that because this cross breed was

stronger and larger than a regular donkey it would have replaced them entirely, but this is not the

case. One explanation for this is that modern breeding between domestic donkeys and onagers

today results in infertile offspring (Kimura). This could mean that by the time the domestic

donkey was used in ancient Sumer, it may have already diverged enough from its ancestral origin

so as to be separate from wild populations. This is significant because it again suggests that the

donkey specifically was extremely important to the way of life of these ancient peoples, and that

it was probably quite easy to use relative to other animals. Clutton-Brock gives multiple

examples of ancient use of the donkey in the Old Testament as well, with it being used for riding

as well as ploughing (94). It was also considered a high status symbol to have many donkeys,

again showing the cultural significance of the animal at the time. Dent’s interpretation of this is

that these early desert tribes “took the ass as their totem,” because it was “an animal that was so

superbly able to survive in the kind of country that they too were forced to inhabit as best they

could (39).” They felt a special connection the donkey, which explains its continued prevalence

in those regions today.

Brady Fraser
Dr. Bill Lattin
ENVS 484
6 September 2017

As the donkey began to make its way into Europe, its use and importance in culture

shifted. According to Clutton-Brock, Roman records show that although the use of the donkey

was widespread, oxen were far more commonly used as a pack and plough animal, and horses

were used for riding and warfare (117). The donkey still had use as a pack and plough animal as

well, but it seems that it was more useful for breeding mules, which were as valuable as the most

noble horse stock of the time (Clutton-Brock 117). It follows, then, that even with a reduced role

as a beast of burden, donkeys continued to have value and importance in Roman life, albeit with

less prestige. They were also used in Greece during the same time period for more specialized

tasks such as tilling narrow vineyards and carrying grape panniers (Dent 49). As time went on,

though, the donkey became less favored in Europe. This is mainly due to two reasons. The first is

that the horse, and therefore the mule, are much more versatile in their use, with both being

suitable to riding, ploughing, or packing if necessary. The second is that as one moves northward

from the Mediterranean and eastward from Mesopotamia, the climate becomes much cooler and

more forested. The donkey is not suited well to either of these things naturally, so it makes sense

that its use declined as the climate continued to cool into the Middle Ages (Dent 57).

Despite its general decline in Europe, the donkey continues to be relevant in many parts

of the world today, particularly the ones with a climate most like the one of its wild ancestors,

and in these areas is actually showing significant population growth. World donkey population

grew from around 34 million in 1961 to 44 million in 1996, with more than one quarter of them

belonging to Africa (Starkey). Ethiopia and Egypt, the original homeland of both the wild ass

and the first domestic donkeys, unsurprisingly constitute the majority of that number (Starkey).

As a general rule, the drier the climate, the more donkeys live there and the more their
Brady Fraser
Dr. Bill Lattin
ENVS 484
6 September 2017

population is increasing (Starkey). The culture of these areas is also relatively non-industrial and

many styles of living that are similar to ancient peoples persist, so it makes sense that us of the

donkey in these areas is still prevalent. The other major region of the world where donkeys are

thriving is Latin America, with nearly one fifth of the world population residing there, and

approximately half of those in Mexico (Starkey). This makes sense given the similarity of the

Central American climate to that of northeastern Africa. In Frank Brooksheirs book The Burro,

he details a trip through Mexico where he notes encountering numerous donkeys used for various

purposes including traveling and milking on the spot for customers, and drinking beer and soft

drinks as a tourist attraction (233-234). Just driving through Mexico he counted over 1,200

donkeys in use in a wide variety of ways, showing that the donkey in these regions is still very

important to life in culture, with use not only for ploughing and packing but for milk and

tourism, which are mostly unique to this area (Brooksheir 235).

Though the donkey may not be at the forefront of culture in the modern world, and is less

glamorous and widely used than the horse, it has been in the past and remains today an important

part of many cultures worldwide. Whether it be in Mexico, The Middle East, or its original

homeland in Africa, the donkey’s continued use in the modern world and its integral part in the

agriculture and transportation of some of the earliest civilizations make it one of the most

important animals humans have domesticated.

Brady Fraser
Dr. Bill Lattin
ENVS 484
6 September 2017

Works Cited

Rossel, Stine et al. “Domestication of the donkey: Timing, processes, and indicators.”

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol.

105, no.10, 2008, pp. 3715-3720, doi: 10.1073/pnas.0709692105.

Clutton-Brock, Juliet. Horse Power: A History of the Horse and Donkey in Human Societies.

Harvard University Press, 1992, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Dent, Anthony. Donkey: The Story of the Ass from East to West. George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd,

1972.

Kimura, Birgitta, et al. "Donkey Domestication." African Archaeological Review, vol. 30, no. 1,

Mar. 2013, pp. 83-95. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10437-012-9126-8.

Starkey, Paul and Malcolm Starkey. “Regional and World Trends in Donkey Populations.”

Animal Traction Network for Eastern and Southern Africa, 1997.

Brooksheir, Frank. The Burro. University of Oklahoma Press, 1974.