Definition

The donkey or ass (Equus africanus asinus) is a domestic animal of the Equidae family.The African wild ancestors of donkeys were domesticated for the first time in early V millennium BC. C., about the same time that the horses of Eurasia, and have since been used by humans as beasts of burden and as a horse. The appearance of agricultural machinery has been a considerable decline in their populations.

Description:

Donkeys vary considerably in size. Most domestic donkeys have a size ranging between 0.9 and 1.4 m to the cross, though there are older varieties such as race Andalusia-Cordoba which can exceed 1.6 m the Catalan donkey arrives at 1 , 65 m. The color and length of your hair is also very variable. Its most common color is gray in all shades, even to the white and black, and brown are common shades. They often have the hair of shades lighter or white around the muzzle, the periorbital area and the belly and often have two dark stripes on a cross on his back. Their manes are shorter than those of the horses so they remain curled instead of falling on the neck.
The donkeys live longer than horses coming to live to 40 years. They reach sexual maturity between 2 and 2.5 years. Mating can occur at any time of year, but usually does not occur in the spring. Gestation lasts between 12 and 14 months, which normally produce a single calf, rarely two, that will be weaned when it is between 6 and 9 months.
Donkeys are adapted to live in the desert margins, and as a result are unique among the horses. The wild donkeys live separated from each other as opposed to horses and zebras live in herds. The donkeys are capable of emitting braying at high volume that allows them to stay in touch at a distance, up to three kilometers.

Current Situation:

There are currently about 44 million donkeys. The donkey population has grown since the mid-twentieth century, from 1961 to 1980 went from 37 to 40 million, remaining stable until rapid growth in the second half of the eighties.
In Africa the species population grew from 8.5 to 13.7 million between 1949 and 1997.Currently there are 5 million donkeys in Ethiopia enEgipto 1.69 million, one million in Nigeria, 678,000 in Sudan, 611,000 in Mali, Burkina Faso 455,000, 450,000 and 300,000 in Niger in Kenya.
In Latin America there are currently 7.7 million head, mainly in Mexico (3.25 million), Colombia (710,000), Bolivia (720,000), Peru (520,000) and Venezuela (440,000).
In Asia there are over 20 million donkeys, some 11 million in China, the rest is mostly in Pakistan (3.9 million) and India (1.6 million).
There are countries that the population has greatly reduced until 1996, for various reasons, including the modernization of transportation, examples are Iran (which went from 2.16 million to 1.4 since 1976), Iraq (passed in three decades of 530,000 to 145,000), Turkey (decreased from 1.97 million in 1966 to 800,000), Yemen (790,000 in 1976 to 500,000), Morocco (1.2 million in 1976 to 880,000), South Africa (from 310,000 to 100,000 heads in just ten years) and Brazil (1.46 million to 1.37 since 1976). Another reason for this reduction are famine, drought, poor living conditions and civil wars like Afghanistan passing of 1,325,000 animals in the eighties to 1,160,000 actualmente.Pero where the most drastic reduction has occurred in Europe, donkeys went from 2 million head of half a million in three decades. Various Spanish breeds are endangered, especially the race Zamora-Leon and Catalonia. This has given rise to initiatives for its defense, even to use for dedicated purposes, in principle, to horses.