While donkeys are thought to be stubborn, they are actually highly intelligent creatures that can form tight bonds with humans.Donkeys are members of the horse family, although donkeys and horses represent two very different species. After domestication in Egypt and North Africa, where they were used for meat and milk, they evolved to become working beasts used to carry people or packages.
They are slower than horses but are more surefooted. Historians believe that the domestication of donkeys increased the mobility of pastor cultures in the ancient world. Equipped with a social and calming nature, donkeys get along well with other domesticated mammals and can also be excellent companions for people with physical or mental disabilities.
—WATCH—
The classification of these animals is within the family Equidae and the genus Equus – meaning horse in Latin. There are two main types of wild donkeys: Asian donkeys, whose range stretches from the Red Sea to Northern India and Tibet, resulting in several subspecies, and the African branch of the species. Among the Asian subspecies in the classification are Equus hemionus hemippus (Syrian Wild ass) and Equus hemionus khur (Indian wild ass).
All modern domesticated donkeys have the scientific name Equus africanus asinus and have descended from African wild asses located primarily in Northern Africa between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert.
