The donkey’s history isn’t very easy to tell. Experts have found many anatomical and
physiological similarities between this animal and the African wild ass
(photo). Since the latter was an animal spread throughout Eastern Africa (Egypt,
Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, etc), it is strongly believed that the donkey’s
domestication history started there.
Paleontological and
archeological findings suggested this theory, which conjectures that these
African wild asses were among humans for at least 20,000 years ago, as in the
example of a donkey-like portrayal on murals on the tomb of pharaoh Tutankhamun. This led to the deduction that these animals had a role in noble hunting. In fact, some
other important and groundbreaking findings made a couple of years ago suggest
that the most domesticated asses started appearing by 6,000 – 7,000 years ago
when archeologists discovered some fossils really similar to today’s donkeys,
in Egypt, near Cairo.
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| Egyptian hieroglyph |
But…
why were these animals introduced among human management? Some researchers say
that, in this really arid region, cattle were the most common creatures used for
transportation. However, it seems that an unpredictable increase in
desertification
compromised the cattle’s performance and their “job” was not efficient
anymore. That was the main point for attempting
to include the African wild asses during migrations. Over time, these
animals were selected by both human and environmental changes. As a consequence,
they became gradually smaller and developed some mild anatomic differences, such as
their metacarpals, which became smaller and less robust. Indeed, an
important anatomic location that should thoroughly be examined is the animal’s
spinal column. This is due to the donkey’s ancestry being extremely used as pack
animals. They could handle the environmental inclement weather much better than the cattle. In addition, their frequent use in transportation could most likely
result in spondylitis (a disorder of the spinal column due, most often, to
overload), which was indeed observed by many specialists on skeletons.
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| Egyptian hieroglyph |
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Archeological findings of early
domesticated asses |
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| African wild ass - the origin of donkeys |
Ultimately,
the wild asses were the main “sponsor” for the broadcast of the domesticated
genetic and phenotypic variation: the donkeys. These adorable animals played –
and still do – a vital role regarding food distribution, advent of trades
between Africa and Western Asia and, obviously, the settlement and organization of early
cities and pastoral societies.
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