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Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature Future production of I Heart Radio. I'm

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Speaker 1: your host of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology

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Speaker 1: and evolutionary biology, and today on the show Donkeys from

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Speaker 1: the domesticated donkey to their wild ask ken donkeys are

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Speaker 1: an underestimated animal with a courageous heart. There are many

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Speaker 1: varieties of donkeys, but they all have one thing in common,

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Speaker 1: a desire to kick ass. Discover this and more as

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Speaker 1: we answer the age old question what's the Lamborghini of

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Speaker 1: the donkey world? Joining me today to talk about asses

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Speaker 1: is TV writer and host of the PODCASTO Is This Racist?

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Speaker 1: Andrew T. Welcome, Hi, thanks for having me. I am

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Speaker 1: so excited a big fan. I think I read your

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Speaker 1: You had a blog like a long time. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: like over like about ten years ago. Now it might

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Speaker 1: be more. Yeah, I read it. Oh god, I read

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Speaker 1: it before it was a podcast, so you know, well,

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Speaker 1: I'm just saying thank you. Yeah. It's it's just it's like,

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Speaker 1: I'm positive when you think about things you wrote that

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Speaker 1: long ago, it's always just like, oh god, but it

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Speaker 1: was good. So that's sort of my memory. But also

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Speaker 1: I'm just like, who the hell knows, Like no I

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Speaker 1: thought it. Well, I read it, so I thought it

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Speaker 1: was good. I I really enjoyed it. Thank you, thank you.

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Speaker 1: But now you're on my turf, so we are we

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Speaker 1: are going to talk about donkeys. So one of the

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Speaker 1: reasons I asked you to come on is that I

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Speaker 1: can see from perusing your Twitter that you are a

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Speaker 1: fan of cute animals. Oh sure, well, yeah, I have

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Speaker 1: you can pie see on the zoom window. I have.

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Speaker 1: I have my chihuahuas who are forbidden from roaming the

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Speaker 1: house because they are, uh, they're not great with not

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Speaker 1: peeing on the couch. Um, so they're they're they're locked

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Speaker 1: in this office with me basically. Um, And uh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm pretty I'm pretty good with animals. I was never

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Speaker 1: really like an animal person growing up, not like not

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Speaker 1: an animal person, but like we would occasionally. I think

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Speaker 1: it's because my parents don't really aren't are definitely not

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Speaker 1: like petch people. So we occasionally have like a like

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Speaker 1: we had fish for a little while. We had a

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Speaker 1: fish tank and like, I think a bird, which was

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Speaker 1: a little like I think it's that thing like from

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Speaker 1: the like a thing you forget like maybe a birden No,

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Speaker 1: it was it was definitely a bird. I know. I

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Speaker 1: guess I was trying to remember the story because it

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Speaker 1: is probably one of those like this is exactly the

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Speaker 1: wrongest way to adopt a bird kind of. I mean,

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Speaker 1: for one, I don't think anyone had any sense of

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Speaker 1: how long they should live, and so that, you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm positive we didn't do the correct job taking care

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Speaker 1: of it. Um. Yeah, like a budgy. Yeah, I don't

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Speaker 1: even know if those are different. Yeah, so yeah, I

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Speaker 1: mean it was just from like the grocery store, like

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Speaker 1: so whatever. The pet aisle at the literal grocery store

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Speaker 1: was okay. I was thinking, like, because at the grocery store,

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Speaker 1: they also have lobsters that you get like to eat,

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Speaker 1: So I was thinking, like, do they have birds that

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Speaker 1: you just like? Cha? I'm from I am from Michigan,

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Speaker 1: so that's not like entirely outside of the rem of possibility.

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Speaker 1: But no, it was. It was nothing like that. It was.

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Speaker 1: It was just like one of those like Midwest UM

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Speaker 1: mega stores UM in the eighties. So they had like

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Speaker 1: just literally everything and you know, everything from guns to

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Speaker 1: pets to every toy you could possibly really want in

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Speaker 1: that era and grocer's It's just I don't know, like

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Speaker 1: a Walmart, but shot, get your gun, get your uh

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Speaker 1: speaking about the wild West and mules donkeys, So I

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Speaker 1: I love donkeys. They seem like a just kind of

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Speaker 1: a basic simple animal, just like they're in the background,

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Speaker 1: you know, like when you see any kind of movie

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Speaker 1: and then there's the nerd who like wears glasses and

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Speaker 1: you know, works in the library, and just like you

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Speaker 1: don't notice them. But then I want to give these

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Speaker 1: donkeys a makeover and so we'll notice them for the beautiful,

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Speaker 1: wonderful creatures that they are. I mean, I guess they

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Speaker 1: are like pre combustion engine there, like the infrastructure animal.

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Speaker 1: It's like it's like kind of like you don't notice

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Speaker 1: a truck especially, but a horse is like a personal car.

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Speaker 1: They're like the tug boats versus you know, versus the yacht.

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Speaker 1: It's they're doing all the work behind the scenes, behind

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Speaker 1: the scenes crew doing all the work, and they get

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Speaker 1: none of the glory. And I want to change that.

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Speaker 1: So donkeys, like I said, they don't get enough love.

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Speaker 1: I think like the last time we had a donkey

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Speaker 1: as a hero was the classic movie Shrek, and that

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Speaker 1: was great donkey representation, I thought, because he was. He

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Speaker 1: was smart and brave, which is I think those are

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Speaker 1: the two defining characteristics of donkeys. They are intelligent and

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Speaker 1: they're very brave. Um. I guess that makes sense because

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Speaker 1: it is sort of like the whole conceit of Shrek

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Speaker 1: is the overlooked thing or the you know, making a

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Speaker 1: hero out of something and having that extent to donkeys

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Speaker 1: probably makes makes sense. I will, I should be. I've

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Speaker 1: never seen a Shrek movie, Are you kidding? Oh my god.

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Speaker 1: I was talking about this at work yesterday because all

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Speaker 1: the child actors knew that smash Mouth song and it

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Speaker 1: took me like a big second to realize it's because

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Speaker 1: they had all grown up with it as infantych Shrek. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure if I'm mad at you or like confused.

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Speaker 1: It's a confused anger right now. I mean, look, you

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Speaker 1: you want. I don't like to command people to watch things,

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Speaker 1: because like that's not my place to tell you what

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Speaker 1: media to consume. But I don't. It's like, I don't

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Speaker 1: understand how you've avoided it. It feels like it must

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Speaker 1: have taken effort because I know that it was on

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Speaker 1: every time. The teacher in our school is like not

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Speaker 1: having a good day, you know, how to hangover? Shrek

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Speaker 1: was on? Shrek was there to teach us important lessons.

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Speaker 1: I think this this is going to just directly aged me. Yes, okay,

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Speaker 1: so I'm I'm just old um because like Shrek came

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Speaker 1: out when I was in college, so I just like

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Speaker 1: never really professors didn't pop on Shrek hangovers. Yeah it

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Speaker 1: makes sense. I like I would have had to like

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Speaker 1: see it in the theater, I guess, which seems unlikely, right,

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Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, I mean Shrek hit I think when

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Speaker 1: I was in middle school and so that was like

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Speaker 1: prime time. Here's a video mrs you know, Gabberson just

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Speaker 1: put her head down for an hour. Maybe thank you

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Speaker 1: makes sense. I think also to the extent that I

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Speaker 1: had an opinion on children's stuff, I think I was

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Speaker 1: the kind of like pretentious, like college kid who was like, well,

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Speaker 1: I much prefer Pixar. Yeah, but Pixar has never done

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Speaker 1: a movie about donkeys, so what do they know. That's

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Speaker 1: what I'm saying. There's a room. There's a room in

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Speaker 1: the market. So donkeys are far from just beasts of burden.

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Speaker 1: They are intelligent, thoughtful, fiercely courageous, adorable, loving, and fascinating creatures.

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Speaker 1: But because they're more free willed than other domesticated animals,

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Speaker 1: they get a bad rap as being stubborn. It's like,

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Speaker 1: you know, one of Gordon Ramsey's favorite insults is calling

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Speaker 1: you a donkey, Like, but a donkey is actually a

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Speaker 1: great thing to beat. Means you're brave and you're smart. Uh,

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Speaker 1: And they are actually so donkeys didn't just come out

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Speaker 1: of nowhere, right like cows and donkeys. It's not like,

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Speaker 1: you know, you build a farm and then suddenly donkeys

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Speaker 1: and cows are there, Like the cow was domesticated from

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Speaker 1: the wild ox and the chicken from the jungle. Foul

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Speaker 1: donkeys were domesticated from the wild ass. Now I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: say wild ass a lot on this program, and it

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Speaker 1: is the scientific term. Uh. And so you are not

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Speaker 1: allowed to derive any enjoyment out of hearing it. That's

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Speaker 1: like it is you know, actually I guess it's just

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Speaker 1: but because of stubbornness or something. It's like the etymology

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Speaker 1: of actual the use ass is I'm not curious enough

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Speaker 1: to look it up. I'm never curious enough to look

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Speaker 1: it up. But wow, what a weird like journey for

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Speaker 1: that word. It really is a strange journey. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: don't actually, yeah, I guess ass meaning your but must

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Speaker 1: come from the term ass for the donkey, right, it

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Speaker 1: feels like it must just converge on people that are

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Speaker 1: disliked somehow. You know, you are an ass because of

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Speaker 1: the donkey, and then you are also called a butt

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Speaker 1: from time to time, and that just moved over and

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Speaker 1: jackass is the term for the male donkey. Uh so

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Speaker 1: so yes, uh Now. Donkeys are also the progenitors of

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Speaker 1: the most famous animal hybrid in the world, which is

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Speaker 1: the mule. The mule is a male donkey plus a

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Speaker 1: female horse. Of course, there are a lot of other

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Speaker 1: types of donkey cocktails, such as the hinney, which is

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Speaker 1: a female donkey plus a male horse, so same combination

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Speaker 1: as the mule, but the sexes are swapped of the parents.

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Speaker 1: There's the zebroid a k a. The zonkey, which is

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Speaker 1: a female donkey and a male zebra, or the donkra,

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Speaker 1: which is a male donkey and a female zebra. So

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Speaker 1: you know you got you got some fun and fresh

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Speaker 1: mixes there of donkeys and other other horse horses out there.

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Speaker 1: I feel like I, yeah, I do, I remember that

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Speaker 1: from yeah, I guess it must just be I don't know,

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Speaker 1: soft college biology class somewhere, just the page of all

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Speaker 1: the that made you dissect a zonkey. God, no, just

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Speaker 1: like the hybrids. I guess it's sort of endlessly fascinating

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Speaker 1: when you're in that part of college to think about

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Speaker 1: hybrids or something, I don't know what you do instead

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Speaker 1: of watching Shrek. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, waste of time. Waste

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Speaker 1: of time. So, the history of the donkey. They were

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Speaker 1: domesticated in Africa around five thousand years ago, probably in Nubia,

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Speaker 1: So their original habitat was harsh desert lands, so donkeys

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Speaker 1: are quite hardy. Uh. It was domesticated from a wild

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Speaker 1: ass species, the African wild donkeys, So we will talk

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Speaker 1: more about these wild ancestors later. They have been used

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Speaker 1: not only as be suburden, but working farm animals and

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Speaker 1: as steeds. They spread across Africa, the Middle East, Europe,

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Speaker 1: and Asia, and we're soon just everywhere because they were

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Speaker 1: so useful for humans. And when we find an animal

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Speaker 1: that we think is useful, we propagate that thing until

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Speaker 1: it everywhere. Right, Yeah, yeah, that's like the I mean

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Speaker 1: right that that's just another another way that we we

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Speaker 1: press evolution or or pressing. That's yeah, that's so interesting.

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Speaker 1: Here's another question, is so the word steed, it's just

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Speaker 1: quadruped you could ride, I realized said steed. I was like, huh,

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Speaker 1: what is the origin of that word. I mean, honestly,

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Speaker 1: most of my questions could be truly answered by a

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Speaker 1: quick flip through the dictionary, and I cannot stress that

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Speaker 1: I will not be either now or later doing those things.

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Speaker 1: I don't know the etymology of steed, but as far

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Speaker 1: as I understand it, it is any kind of thing

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Speaker 1: you ride. I don't even know if it needs to

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Speaker 1: be a quadruped like get a writable biped like I

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Speaker 1: think writeable, I writable ostrich still would be a steed, right, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's back as a steed. Actually, that's clear, that's yeah, inarguable.

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Speaker 1: I'm with you, right exactly. So. They were first introduced

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Speaker 1: to South America by invading Spanish ships, and they were

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Speaker 1: later introduced to North America via Mexico. They became incredibly

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Speaker 1: popular in North America during the gold Rush, used as

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Speaker 1: a beast of burden by miners, but when the mining

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Speaker 1: boom ended, many of these donkeys were either abandoned or

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Speaker 1: escaped and formed a feral population of wild donkeys a

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Speaker 1: k a. Wild burrows. Most of them live in Arizona

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Speaker 1: and they're still there, living their best free lives. That

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Speaker 1: makes sense. Like, yeah, so it's wow, what a what

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Speaker 1: a odd journey, but it right. I guess it's like

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Speaker 1: the desert, the desert ish area is just sort of

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Speaker 1: an ecosystem. Yeah, you can just like find Huh. The

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Speaker 1: super ignorant thing of me that I'm about to say

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Speaker 1: is that I would, I guess assume like this is

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Speaker 1: just can't be correct. That like the desert is like

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Speaker 1: less bio diverse than like say a forest or rainforest

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Speaker 1: or whatever type thing. Anyway, I guess what I mean

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Speaker 1: is like because rocks is rocks and sand of sand,

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Speaker 1: So like the African desert more similar to the Arizona

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Speaker 1: Desert than say an African forest as to a you know,

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Speaker 1: American forest north or south or whatever. Um. And I'm

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Speaker 1: just like, as I'm saying, I'm like, that can't be right.

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's not that's not a bad idea. I

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Speaker 1: mean I think that in general, when you have a

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Speaker 1: harsher environment that is more sparse in terms of water

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Speaker 1: and nutrients, I do think that bio in terms of

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Speaker 1: bio diversity of uh sort of the of like larger animals. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think that is. Yeah, there's less substrate to be

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Speaker 1: diverse among, right, Like the moon and the Mars and

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Speaker 1: Mars have the same biodiversity, so right, I mean there

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Speaker 1: is a surprising amount of biodiversity when you look at deserts,

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Speaker 1: especially when you include things like insects and vegetation and

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Speaker 1: the smaller, less notable animals. But yeah, it is true.

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Speaker 1: It is a hard it's a harder lifestyle, so you

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Speaker 1: need there's more competition for scarce resources, so it's a

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Speaker 1: little harder to have, you know, you basically it's a

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Speaker 1: thunder dome. Whereas something like while a rainforest may have

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Speaker 1: its challenges, certainly you also have a lot of other

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Speaker 1: opportunities for animals to find little niches, and then like

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Speaker 1: by finding these niches, you have more biodiversity, right, there's

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Speaker 1: just more like carbon and water around. I guess yeah.

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Speaker 1: I think like the Amazon rainforest has its run of

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Speaker 1: the areas where you have like the most like a huge,

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Speaker 1: disproportionately huge number of different species there, and I guess

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Speaker 1: it would have been like probably in Arizona before the

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Speaker 1: the wild asses outcomputed. It probably like buffalo or something

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Speaker 1: like that around I guess, or bison or something like that. Yeah, bison, Yeah, yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 1: And so actually there are feral donkeys in other parts

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Speaker 1: of the world as well, not just Arizona. There's a

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Speaker 1: group of feral donkeys in Italy called the Assinara donkey

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Speaker 1: who live on the island of Assinara off the coast

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Speaker 1: of Sardinia. So fascinatingly, the entire population is albino. So

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Speaker 1: their ancestors were domesticated donkeys that were abandoned on the

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Speaker 1: island when it was turned into a penal colony in

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Speaker 1: eight five, and the locals were forced to evacuate and

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Speaker 1: leave so they could build this penal colony. And then

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Speaker 1: it's thought that the white coat the albinos of these

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Speaker 1: donkeys was due to the fact that the original donkeys

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Speaker 1: had been imported from a special breed from Egypt by

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Speaker 1: the duke who once lived on the island that just

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Speaker 1: had very particular tastes, like hey, I like these albino donkeys.

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Speaker 1: Just get them on this island. And then when the

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Speaker 1: island was turned into a penal colony and everyone had

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Speaker 1: to leave. Uh, these donkeys were just left there and

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Speaker 1: then they formed their own feral population. And now it's

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Speaker 1: no longer a penal colony, which is great, and the

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Speaker 1: prison is abandoned and the feral donkeys have taken possession

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Speaker 1: of the prison. So like now this is the donkeys

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Speaker 1: have have repossessed the the penal colony, so now it

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Speaker 1: is just like a donkey sanctuary. I guess that makes sense, right,

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Speaker 1: because it's like anywhere that humans are, probably the first

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Speaker 1: thing we do is get rid of the large carnivorous predators,

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Speaker 1: and then it's just like who then is going to

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Speaker 1: kill these donkeys? Right? And I mean islands actually can

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Speaker 1: naturally not have large predators, Like you'll have a lot

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Speaker 1: of islands where you have a lot of like you

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Speaker 1: can have flightless birds and stuff that are sitting ducks

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Speaker 1: more or less because you don't have predators here. So

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Speaker 1: I don't even know if this island ever had, right,

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Speaker 1: I don't. I don't really know the history of it.

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Speaker 1: But they they, yeah, they they're doing great. It's now

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Speaker 1: a national park and they're protected, so now it's now

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Speaker 1: their island. But before we move on to the next section,

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Speaker 1: I just want to run through some quick donkey facts.

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Speaker 1: They are in the same family as horses. As I

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Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, male donkeys are called jackasses and female donkeys

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Speaker 1: are called Jenny's or Jeannette's, whatever you prefer. I suppose

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Speaker 1: it's like you see a donkey, it's like are you

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Speaker 1: more of a Genny or more of a Janette? So formal,

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Speaker 1: please please, Jeanette was my mother's. So, donkeys who live

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Speaker 1: and work in poorer countries live for about fifteen years,

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Speaker 1: but donkeys who lead more privileged lifestyles in richer countries

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Speaker 1: can live from thirty to fifty years, which I think

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Speaker 1: it's one of like when you look at animal health

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Speaker 1: in UH and so if you cannot you learn a

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Speaker 1: lot about not just like the animals and the environment,

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Speaker 1: but also you can learn about socioeconomic issues, like you

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Speaker 1: see this drastic effect on donkey lifespan. Well, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's a it's an interesting indicator in terms of difference

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Speaker 1: in terms of quality of living in different countries. That's

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Speaker 1: so wild, Yeah, is it like as far as beasts

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Speaker 1: of burden go, do we just like people just like

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Speaker 1: work animals to death or like you don't retire from

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Speaker 1: or a donkey usually. I mean it's it's one of

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Speaker 1: those things where like sometimes people do you know um,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes you don't. I mean, if you're a subsistence

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Speaker 1: farmer somewhere and you're struggling to have enough to feed

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Speaker 1: your family, being able to like retire your donkey, yeah,

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Speaker 1: probably the last of your It's such a like as

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Speaker 1: far as like just from a straight resources perspective, it's

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Speaker 1: just got to be like it has to be kind

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Speaker 1: reproductive to retire an animal. What are you gonna do?

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Speaker 1: Feed it? It's it's the opposite feed it while it

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Speaker 1: does nothing. So probably there's like a lack of veterinary care,

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Speaker 1: you know. And like if you again, like if you

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Speaker 1: are a subsistence farm where you may like and I'm

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Speaker 1: not saying that that like they don't care about their animals.

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Speaker 1: They may love their animals, but if you don't have

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Speaker 1: the resources to be able to take your animal too

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Speaker 1: of it, then you're not It's it's not going to

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Speaker 1: live as long. It's also loving loving like work animals

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Speaker 1: is like a particular perspective that is probably would be

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Speaker 1: my perspective. But also I'm not farmer, Like I don't know, right,

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Speaker 1: I mean, it really depends. Some farmers are going to

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Speaker 1: view them as tools, like as they would view a tractor,

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Speaker 1: and probably care for them in the same way they

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Speaker 1: would care for their tools, and some farmers form a

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Speaker 1: connection with them. I think it really just depends. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I guess what I mean is like it's that perspective

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Speaker 1: of like I'm like, oh, how would you not? But

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Speaker 1: it's like, you know, there's lots of reasons you wouldn't,

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Speaker 1: and they're probably also okay, yeah, no, I mean it's

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Speaker 1: I think it is like we can't sit here in

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Speaker 1: our you know and sort of our wealthier nations and

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Speaker 1: then be like, oh, you should be treating your donkeys

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Speaker 1: better because exactly okay, try to be honest. Subsistence farms

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Speaker 1: even the way I phrase it, it's like, oh, we

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Speaker 1: work animals at death. It's like, well yeah, but you

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Speaker 1: know it is not really like what perspective, what like

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Speaker 1: leg do I have to stand on on like the

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Speaker 1: morality of that honestly? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, but I mean

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Speaker 1: it is it is. I think, um, we can think

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Speaker 1: about these things in terms of animal welfare, because I

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Speaker 1: really don't think I do not think that animal welfare

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Speaker 1: and human welfare are ever at odds with each other.

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Speaker 1: I think they actually go hand in hand and when

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Speaker 1: you improve human and animal welfare, like they can both

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Speaker 1: improve each other kind of simultaneously. Sure, yeah, yeah, absolutely

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Speaker 1: make so just a few more quick donkey facts before

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Speaker 1: the breaks. So they have tough, cupped hoofs that are

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Speaker 1: adept for rocky surfaces and climbing at steep angles. These

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Speaker 1: hooves are more durable than horse hoofs and do not

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Speaker 1: require shoeing because they can sometimes be shoot if if

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Speaker 1: they're working and they're working on harder surfaces. But because

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Speaker 1: these hooves grow so quickly and are so tough, they

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Speaker 1: do not have as delicate a hoof as say a

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Speaker 1: horse um, which sounds like I'm judging horse for the

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Speaker 1: oh you're little sins of hoof. I it was probably

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Speaker 1: like depressingly late in life that I kind of realized

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Speaker 1: how like shoeing a horse worked, because it's so wild. Honestly,

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Speaker 1: as a very strange I just could super weird imagine

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Speaker 1: coming up with it, like whatever road you take to

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Speaker 1: get there, like yeah, well it's it's how did we figure? Like?

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Speaker 1: It must have been a weird and painful process, both

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Speaker 1: for the human and the horse. Yeah, to figure out

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Speaker 1: what part of the hoof was not sensitive, Like if

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Speaker 1: you if you heard a horse hoof, they will let

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Speaker 1: you know and they'll kick you as they should. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean like so much of the hoof is non nonsensory,

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Speaker 1: Like they do not have nerves. It's like your fingernail.

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Speaker 1: Horses and donkeys, they are essentially like walking on a

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Speaker 1: giant finger, which is weird to think about. Um, and

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Speaker 1: that hoof is a big old, like big name essentially

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Speaker 1: fingernail made out of similar stuff, you know, keratin. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and when they shoe a horse, it's they're like they'll

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Speaker 1: use nails and stuff. It looks like, oh god, they're

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Speaker 1: nailing this thing to this poor horse. It's like, well,

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Speaker 1: if you do it correctly, uh, then the horse will

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Speaker 1: not actually feel it shouldn't hit any nerves, it shouldn't

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Speaker 1: be painful, and it's basically yeah, it's just like wild

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Speaker 1: that like you're like walk there like walking around on

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Speaker 1: like a press on nail essentially, or like more like

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Speaker 1: a surgically implanted press on. Now is like yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: like if we nailed like just shoe soles to the horse,

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Speaker 1: like maybe not nailed because that sounds painful, but like

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Speaker 1: glued them onto the horror feet sounds kind of convenient,

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Speaker 1: I guess. Honestly, I'm sure there are people who are

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Speaker 1: not strictly speaking opposed to something like that. Well, if

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Speaker 1: you walk around barefoot enough, it starts to get all

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Speaker 1: calousie and you got your own hooves. Yeah that's my

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Speaker 1: fu thing. Yeah she so. Uh. They also have really

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Speaker 1: tough digestive systems and can go for long periods without water.

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Speaker 1: In areas with little water, feral populations are more solitary,

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Speaker 1: and they spread out so they don't have to compete

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Speaker 1: for the few resources around, and if there is a

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Speaker 1: lot of distance between them, they still communicate with each

396
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,560
Speaker 1: other by brain so that you know, he hall like

397
00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:30,239
Speaker 1: this really loud donkey sounds. Those are really useful for

398
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:32,919
Speaker 1: donkeys to communicate with each other when they have to

399
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Speaker 1: spread out so that they're not all competing for the

400
00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:39,800
Speaker 1: same water sources. But when there's ample food and water,

401
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:43,840
Speaker 1: they actually do like to congregate and live closer to

402
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Speaker 1: each other and be more social. Um and usually females

403
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Speaker 1: are the ones that form these permanent more permanent uh

404
00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:55,480
Speaker 1: other quasi permanent. They can come and go, but they'll

405
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Speaker 1: form actually these big mom groups kind of hang out

406
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Speaker 1: and they'll sometimes lit a couple of males join in

407
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Speaker 1: if they like them, but if not, they will violently

408
00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 1: violently exclude the males. So they can be kind of

409
00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:13,879
Speaker 1: click ish, but for a good reason. That's so. And

410
00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:18,119
Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, because horses are herds, is it hurts

411
00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:23,480
Speaker 1: are herds? Yeah? And bison buffalo similar, but it's just

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Speaker 1: like as you go into the desert, Okay, okay, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think they can. They're both social and they can

414
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Speaker 1: be solitary, which I think is a really interesting Usually

415
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Speaker 1: for animals are kind of like one or the other,

416
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:42,640
Speaker 1: but with certain animals, like they can actually be both

417
00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,160
Speaker 1: kind of like on their own and then also social.

418
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Speaker 1: So you know, it's not just it's not just introverts

419
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Speaker 1: and extroverts. There are those of us who are somewhere

420
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Speaker 1: in between. I guess, given how the other Horsey type

421
00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:00,520
Speaker 1: animals it was, they're they're like herd and malls that

422
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:03,680
Speaker 1: had to develop an ability to be on their own,

423
00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:09,160
Speaker 1: but they're still like talking God, Okay, weird, that makes sense. Yeah,

424
00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:13,399
Speaker 1: and this and there's actually some really interesting behavior that

425
00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:16,640
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about right after the break that actually

426
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:19,720
Speaker 1: shows you sort of the difference between donkeys and horses

427
00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:22,840
Speaker 1: and why that combo of solitary lifestyle. But then they

428
00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:25,320
Speaker 1: also like the company of each other has turned them

429
00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:31,080
Speaker 1: into these wonderfully courageous and like just really here hero

430
00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,960
Speaker 1: hero hero donkeys, right right, right. That's going to be

431
00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:38,520
Speaker 1: interesting because it's like that has to like so mimic,

432
00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:41,560
Speaker 1: not so mimic maybe, but like that's like closer to

433
00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:44,800
Speaker 1: the human experience or even this like this weird American

434
00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:48,200
Speaker 1: experience where like we are clearly social animals, but some

435
00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:51,840
Speaker 1: of us tell ourselves we are like lone wolves or whatever,

436
00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:56,160
Speaker 1: but we're still living off the fruits of society and

437
00:27:56,200 --> 00:28:00,600
Speaker 1: the social Yeah, okay, that's yeah. I've to figure out

438
00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:07,560
Speaker 1: this meta form maybe during the break, during the break, okay,

439
00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:10,400
Speaker 1: and so we are back, Um, did you figure out

440
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:15,480
Speaker 1: the metaphor? It feels like it's almost there, but it is.

441
00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:18,520
Speaker 1: It is the thing where it's just like like this

442
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:22,840
Speaker 1: like fake individualism or not fake individualism, but like not

443
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:29,520
Speaker 1: it's not true individualism. I think it's yeah, miage of individualism. Yeah, no,

444
00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:32,800
Speaker 1: I think that like and this is as we talk

445
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:35,800
Speaker 1: more about the donkey behavior. I think it is something

446
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:41,000
Speaker 1: to aspire to in terms of like, they have a

447
00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:45,920
Speaker 1: strong sense of individuality, but they care about other animals.

448
00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:49,240
Speaker 1: They care about each other, and they you know that.

449
00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:53,080
Speaker 1: It's like you can be you can be independent, but

450
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:55,840
Speaker 1: if you but you can still care about your community.

451
00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:00,560
Speaker 1: This behavior perfectly. I was looking at it the other way,

452
00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:04,480
Speaker 1: like donkeys are like the like libertarian assholes of the

453
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:09,080
Speaker 1: acquine world who are like where live free or die?

454
00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:12,440
Speaker 1: But they're still breathing all this non polluted air and

455
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:16,520
Speaker 1: driving on rhods and not dying of you know, like unexpected,

456
00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:23,960
Speaker 1: uninspected means or whatever. No, donkeys are definitely community oriented animals.

457
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:29,560
Speaker 1: So they're known to be stubborn because they're actually highly intelligent, cautious,

458
00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:34,080
Speaker 1: and strong willed. So donkeys are less easily intimidated by

459
00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:37,800
Speaker 1: humans than say, horses. So with a horse, you can

460
00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:40,800
Speaker 1: kind of uh. When you're riding a horse, they can

461
00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:45,840
Speaker 1: be very responsive to you because their reaction to I,

462
00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:50,720
Speaker 1: like a stressful situation or is to like turn away,

463
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:53,240
Speaker 1: is to go away. So you can train a horse

464
00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:55,360
Speaker 1: more or less like if I tug you in this direction,

465
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:58,719
Speaker 1: you go in this direction. They kind of trust the

466
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:02,520
Speaker 1: writer to know what to do, like to have them

467
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:05,800
Speaker 1: avoid danger. Donkeys do not trust you. You can earn

468
00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:10,000
Speaker 1: their trust slowly, but they will trust their own gut

469
00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:13,920
Speaker 1: and they will not be bullied by you. And so

470
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:17,120
Speaker 1: if they think that maybe something they're about to do

471
00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:20,600
Speaker 1: is a bad idea, they will not do it. But

472
00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:23,840
Speaker 1: they will become less stubborn if they have a close

473
00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:27,479
Speaker 1: relationship with you, so they can bond with humans and

474
00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:30,080
Speaker 1: grow to trust them. But you really have to earn

475
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:33,280
Speaker 1: that trust. So you're like, right or die with this donkey,

476
00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:36,800
Speaker 1: and you know, I mean again it comes back to Shrek,

477
00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:40,720
Speaker 1: which again I'm shocked you haven't seen. But the relationship

478
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:44,240
Speaker 1: between Shrek and his donkey, it was built on trust

479
00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:47,840
Speaker 1: and mutual respect. And that is how you get a

480
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:50,280
Speaker 1: donkey to trust you is to be more like Shrek

481
00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:54,320
Speaker 1: right right, not like Farquad, which I know none of

482
00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:57,400
Speaker 1: this means anything that you haven't seen. Trust well, I

483
00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:59,400
Speaker 1: I have a sense. I have a sense of what's

484
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:03,040
Speaker 1: going on just from a yeah culture, but no, I

485
00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:07,520
Speaker 1: think it is it's more just like not more sorry

486
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:09,560
Speaker 1: because I don't know the original, but but there's that

487
00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:14,800
Speaker 1: like the instinct is to try to portray in the

488
00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:17,320
Speaker 1: instinct in media is like the relationship with like a

489
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:20,360
Speaker 1: cowboy and his horse, Like you know, lone rangers and

490
00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:23,280
Speaker 1: Silver are like one of a piece. But that's like

491
00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:27,560
Speaker 1: more just that Silver is a brainless follower who will

492
00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:31,080
Speaker 1: do whatever the lone ranger wants him to do, whereas

493
00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:37,600
Speaker 1: he's a sheep. Of course sheep. Donkey donkey would be like, no,

494
00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:42,200
Speaker 1: that's donkey can can give yeah, respond as an equal

495
00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:49,760
Speaker 1: or something donkey, Yeah, donkey trusts but verifies. Yeah. So

496
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,800
Speaker 1: donkeys are not to be trifled with, unlike horses, who

497
00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:57,040
Speaker 1: tend to scare more easily, and their response to danger

498
00:31:57,160 --> 00:31:59,840
Speaker 1: is to run, which is a great strategy. I'm not

499
00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:02,360
Speaker 1: anti horse, I don't. I know, I'm kind of seems

500
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:04,800
Speaker 1: like that. Um, but I don't want to tear horses

501
00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:12,040
Speaker 1: down right, Okay, all right, that's fair enough. But I

502
00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:15,200
Speaker 1: will say so in a herd structure, like with horses,

503
00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:18,680
Speaker 1: running at danger is a sound strategy because you are

504
00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:21,120
Speaker 1: part of a herd and you won't run together. The

505
00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:23,480
Speaker 1: chance that you're going to get picked off is, you know,

506
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:28,080
Speaker 1: not not so high. But if you're on your own, um,

507
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:33,680
Speaker 1: running is maybe not a great strategy, and so donkeys,

508
00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:37,760
Speaker 1: who sometimes have to live solitary lives when resources are

509
00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:42,200
Speaker 1: more scarce, have learned to stand up for themselves and

510
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:47,080
Speaker 1: so when they perceive danger, they stop in their tracks,

511
00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:53,520
Speaker 1: they assess the situation, they scream uh in anger, and

512
00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:57,120
Speaker 1: then they defend themselves. So this is why there are

513
00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:01,920
Speaker 1: guard donkeys, which is a real thing, so who can

514
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:05,840
Speaker 1: be even more effective in some circumstances than dark guard

515
00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:10,840
Speaker 1: dogs on like a farm, so guard donkeys tend to

516
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:15,280
Speaker 1: protect things like herds of sheep, cattle, maybe even chickens

517
00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:18,640
Speaker 1: because when they see a predator like a coyote or

518
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:22,080
Speaker 1: a wolf or a fox, even like a hyena, they

519
00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:26,520
Speaker 1: have an instinctive hatred of these kind of dog like

520
00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:32,280
Speaker 1: animals and they will go super agro on them. So

521
00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:36,520
Speaker 1: they will bray really loudly, which will often alert the

522
00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:40,560
Speaker 1: farmer that something is a miss, and they will confront

523
00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:45,360
Speaker 1: the predator, stomping, biting, and sometimes picking up and tossing

524
00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:53,360
Speaker 1: the poor unsuspecting carnivore away um. And despite being smaller

525
00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:58,040
Speaker 1: than horses, they are a lot fiercer. They will basically

526
00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:03,840
Speaker 1: protect anything, anyone in anything, whether it's another donkey, another animal,

527
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:07,440
Speaker 1: or even a human, and they will fiercely defend anyone

528
00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:10,200
Speaker 1: they have bonded with. I guess that makes sense too,

529
00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:14,439
Speaker 1: because it's like it's plenty big enough to handle, like

530
00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:20,360
Speaker 1: your your wolf, fox, coyote type situation. Yea, yeah, and

531
00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:23,480
Speaker 1: they're not. And one of the nice things about having

532
00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:27,160
Speaker 1: a donkey as a as a guard on a farm

533
00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:31,040
Speaker 1: versus like using firearms or something is they don't typically

534
00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:35,000
Speaker 1: kill the predator. They are capable of killing predators, but

535
00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:37,960
Speaker 1: usually they just scare them off, Like if you get

536
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:40,799
Speaker 1: tossed by a donkey, you're not necessarily going to go

537
00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:48,000
Speaker 1: back for seconds. So, and they aren't really aggressive, They're

538
00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:53,080
Speaker 1: typically just defensive. They don't go out seeking conflict. There

539
00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:58,080
Speaker 1: are some donkeys who have actually been specifically bred for guarding,

540
00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:02,360
Speaker 1: so like the most curad just calm and courageous donkeys

541
00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:06,400
Speaker 1: who have both been trained and a sort of selectively

542
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:10,040
Speaker 1: bred to be the best guard donkeys in the world.

543
00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:15,920
Speaker 1: I guess that's I mean that, yeah, that makes sense,

544
00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:20,279
Speaker 1: it's really I mean it probably especially like having an

545
00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:24,040
Speaker 1: herbivore be your guard makes a lot more sense than

546
00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:29,360
Speaker 1: any Yeah, just like why you don't want them to hunt,

547
00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:33,839
Speaker 1: you want them to simply like hold a line, right,

548
00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:37,400
Speaker 1: I mean, it is, it is. It is interesting to

549
00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:40,520
Speaker 1: think of an herbivore as being brave. But yeah, like

550
00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:43,719
Speaker 1: I mean there are I mean, I guess also like elephants,

551
00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:47,080
Speaker 1: and there are many other hippos. Well, hippos are actually

552
00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:51,719
Speaker 1: super aggressive and will destroy you. But donkeys are not

553
00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:56,800
Speaker 1: super aggressive. They will you know, they will defend themselves.

554
00:35:56,840 --> 00:36:00,520
Speaker 1: I mean sometimes you know, not to be Missandra here,

555
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:03,839
Speaker 1: but male donkeys can tend to be more aggressive than

556
00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:08,080
Speaker 1: female donkeys. So most guard donkeys are actually females because

557
00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:12,239
Speaker 1: they they're simply more logical and common rational than the

558
00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:17,680
Speaker 1: male donkeys, right right, right, that makes sense to me.

559
00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:23,719
Speaker 1: It is really charming and wonderful and that like there

560
00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:26,440
Speaker 1: are donkeys out there who have it's just like this

561
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:31,040
Speaker 1: elite force of guard donkeys and they're not you know,

562
00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:35,120
Speaker 1: it's not like wanton violence that these donkeys are dealing out.

563
00:36:35,239 --> 00:36:38,200
Speaker 1: They just like, you know, they're they're the kind of

564
00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:41,320
Speaker 1: bouncer you want. Like they're not going to keep going

565
00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:44,080
Speaker 1: past the point of like when it's like okay, he

566
00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:46,759
Speaker 1: gets it, he's leaving. They're not you know, keep like

567
00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:49,560
Speaker 1: you know, beating down a guy it's like, yeah, they're

568
00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:52,279
Speaker 1: what people think the cops are, as opposed to what

569
00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:56,399
Speaker 1: cops really are, which is like, right, replace cops with

570
00:36:56,520 --> 00:37:03,239
Speaker 1: donkeys literally anything. Yeah, that would be cute and effective exactly. Yeah,

571
00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:07,120
Speaker 1: could it be worse anyway, So it certainly worth trying.

572
00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:12,480
Speaker 1: I agreed the elite donkey force easily bribed with like

573
00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:15,759
Speaker 1: little carrots and sugarcubes. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, is

574
00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:19,720
Speaker 1: feeding like a donkey or a horse a sugar cube?

575
00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:21,880
Speaker 1: I know that's like a thing. From me, it just

576
00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:24,400
Speaker 1: felt that that to me started as soon as you

577
00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:25,960
Speaker 1: said I was like, is that real or is that

578
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:30,520
Speaker 1: like a cartoon thing? Um? I think it's real. I

579
00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:32,479
Speaker 1: mean they don't want to make it as it would

580
00:37:32,560 --> 00:37:36,680
Speaker 1: be sort of a special treat. Yeah, I think it's not.

581
00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:39,879
Speaker 1: It's not something you want to do frequently. It's like

582
00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:44,120
Speaker 1: when when an animal gets I mean some animals cannot,

583
00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:47,640
Speaker 1: like they won't necessarily react to sugar that much, but

584
00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:52,160
Speaker 1: like if they're getting a dose of something more sugary

585
00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:54,759
Speaker 1: than their normal diet, oh this is great. I mean

586
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:56,920
Speaker 1: it's just like with humans. That's why we like, it's

587
00:37:56,960 --> 00:37:59,880
Speaker 1: just energy in a little it's energy and it's like

588
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:03,840
Speaker 1: it is rare to have such a high concentration of sugar.

589
00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:05,879
Speaker 1: So when something is rare, we're like, oh, we gotta

590
00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:08,719
Speaker 1: stock up on this because I found like a gold

591
00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:12,560
Speaker 1: mine and that's why, you know, we eat so much sugar.

592
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:20,360
Speaker 1: Yeah good, it's so good. So donkeys are not only brave,

593
00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:24,279
Speaker 1: but their intelligence has been underestimated. There still needs to

594
00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:26,799
Speaker 1: be more research into it. Seems like it's there's just

595
00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:30,560
Speaker 1: like a weird lack of research into donkey intelligence and

596
00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:35,360
Speaker 1: I think that really needs to be uh rectified. Nor Matthews,

597
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:37,960
Speaker 1: who is a veterinarian, is one of the few people

598
00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:42,400
Speaker 1: who has spent over a decade studying donkey cognition, and

599
00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:48,040
Speaker 1: she believes donkeys are quite intelligent. Uh. They can open

600
00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:52,520
Speaker 1: and deconstruct fences. They seem to form strong bonds with

601
00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:57,000
Speaker 1: people and can recognize their own names. They're trainable, and

602
00:38:57,120 --> 00:39:00,760
Speaker 1: a lot of people who own donkeys compare them to dogs.

603
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:03,799
Speaker 1: They say they act very similar lead to just like

604
00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:10,000
Speaker 1: oversized dogs. That's pretty rad honestly, I know, just sweet

605
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:13,439
Speaker 1: sweet little doggie that you can also ride, but only

606
00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:15,399
Speaker 1: if they feel like it, so you know that it's

607
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:19,800
Speaker 1: an actual bonding activity. Right, right, right, right. You can't

608
00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:24,279
Speaker 1: force them, yeah, exactly, you have to build respect with them,

609
00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:27,440
Speaker 1: just like dogs. There are multiple breeds of donkey, So

610
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:30,239
Speaker 1: the largest breed and perhaps most fancy looking, is the

611
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:36,040
Speaker 1: who has a long, shaggy coat, who's bread in France,

612
00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:39,840
Speaker 1: and we're basically the Lamborghini of donkeys during the Middle

613
00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:44,000
Speaker 1: Ages for French nobility. So you have these rich French

614
00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:50,200
Speaker 1: nobles like rolling up in there bolts and just you know,

615
00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:53,480
Speaker 1: rubbing it in all the all the poor people's faces

616
00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:57,160
Speaker 1: that they have this fancy shaggy donkey. Right. It's the

617
00:39:57,239 --> 00:40:01,960
Speaker 1: shag creates a maintenance, the right that has to be

618
00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:05,200
Speaker 1: part of it. It's just harder to maintain a long

619
00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:09,720
Speaker 1: haired anything. Yeah, I mean, you know, you gotta trim

620
00:40:09,719 --> 00:40:17,480
Speaker 1: it Braxit probably yeah. Yeah. There's also the miniature donkey

621
00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:20,879
Speaker 1: from the Mediterranean area. They weigh around two hundred four

622
00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:25,120
Speaker 1: hundred pounds, which you compare that to that Lamborghini donkey

623
00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:27,800
Speaker 1: we talked about, which weighs up to nine hundred pounds.

624
00:40:28,239 --> 00:40:30,640
Speaker 1: And then there's the and a losing donkey, which is

625
00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:34,120
Speaker 1: a Spanish breed who is one of the tallest donkeys.

626
00:40:34,200 --> 00:40:38,560
Speaker 1: It's more horse like with these very long rabbit like ears.

627
00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:42,759
Speaker 1: So there are I think, you know, just I'll have

628
00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:45,320
Speaker 1: these in the show. Nos, just like google different breeds

629
00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:49,080
Speaker 1: of donkeys. I mean they are they do have some

630
00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:54,160
Speaker 1: diversity there and there they can be quite stunningly stunningly beautiful,

631
00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:57,680
Speaker 1: really interesting looking. And it's something I think people don't

632
00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:00,560
Speaker 1: necessarily know. They just think donkey is just like kind

633
00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:04,200
Speaker 1: of one one flavor of donkey, right well, and it

634
00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:08,919
Speaker 1: is also though except for the yeah, the tall one

635
00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:11,080
Speaker 1: I can't remember, oh here it is end of Lucian

636
00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:18,080
Speaker 1: uh is, it's like just ten squatter than a horse.

637
00:41:18,239 --> 00:41:22,000
Speaker 1: And I think like our human brains immediately disrespect that.

638
00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:28,040
Speaker 1: We like so like respect height that. It really is

639
00:41:28,080 --> 00:41:31,680
Speaker 1: just like that's the main difference visually. It feels like

640
00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:37,879
Speaker 1: hike biases is everywhere. Even Yeah, they're not short, they're

641
00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:44,280
Speaker 1: just like shorter, right yeah, yeah, I I it's discrimination,

642
00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:48,479
Speaker 1: and it is it's wrong. You know, he's poor. They're

643
00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:54,440
Speaker 1: like they're more braver than horses. They were so important

644
00:41:54,520 --> 00:41:58,160
Speaker 1: to helping humanity create civilization and we're just like, yeah,

645
00:41:58,239 --> 00:42:01,600
Speaker 1: but you're like an inch too short. Yeah, but it's

646
00:42:01,640 --> 00:42:03,880
Speaker 1: it's the same as like, you know, there's there's the

647
00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:06,680
Speaker 1: folks who like love the concept of the railway train,

648
00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:09,960
Speaker 1: and then everyone else it's just like it disappears like

649
00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:13,560
Speaker 1: you just don't think about any of that. It's just

650
00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:18,840
Speaker 1: it's just the infrastructure, like you know, yeah, yeah, replace

651
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:23,840
Speaker 1: cops with donkeys and replace cars with trains. This is

652
00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:26,880
Speaker 1: my utopia. This is like you think I'm joking, Like

653
00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:29,399
Speaker 1: that's that would be a better world. Yeah for sure.

654
00:42:31,719 --> 00:42:41,680
Speaker 1: M hm. So we're going to talk about wild asses now.

655
00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:45,919
Speaker 1: They are the undomesticated wild counterparts too donkeys. So these

656
00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:48,640
Speaker 1: are not just the feral donkeys. These are the actual

657
00:42:49,239 --> 00:42:53,879
Speaker 1: wild donkeys that were the progenitors of donkeys. These are

658
00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:59,280
Speaker 1: what we took from nature and you know, selectively bred

659
00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:03,520
Speaker 1: to become donkeys. So donkeys were specifically bred from the

660
00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:08,400
Speaker 1: wild asses found in Nubia and Somalia. The Somalian wild

661
00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:11,280
Speaker 1: donkey looks a bit like a cross between a donkey

662
00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:15,080
Speaker 1: and a zebra because it has these little stripe ease

663
00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:18,719
Speaker 1: on its legs. It's it looks kind of like a

664
00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:21,480
Speaker 1: donkey zebra hybrid, but it is not a hybrid. This

665
00:43:21,560 --> 00:43:26,200
Speaker 1: is just how it is. And the desert origins of

666
00:43:26,200 --> 00:43:30,240
Speaker 1: the donkey means it was well adapted for a tough, hot,

667
00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:34,040
Speaker 1: and often sparse environment. And in addition to having that

668
00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:38,360
Speaker 1: hardy digestive system and being drought tolerant, those really long

669
00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:42,440
Speaker 1: ears probably helped keep the wild donkey cool, similar to

670
00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:45,040
Speaker 1: the African hair, which also has these heat I mean,

671
00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:47,760
Speaker 1: I know rabbits have big ears, but it has huge ears.

672
00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:52,440
Speaker 1: And we see this pattern of these really large ears

673
00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:55,840
Speaker 1: often in prey species that live in hot climates. Sometimes

674
00:43:55,840 --> 00:43:58,919
Speaker 1: predators too though, because the ears not only allowed them

675
00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:03,360
Speaker 1: great hearing, but as blood travels through the large surface

676
00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:05,640
Speaker 1: area of the ears, it cools them down. So it's

677
00:44:05,680 --> 00:44:11,719
Speaker 1: like these little air conditioners or their blood. So right,

678
00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:15,800
Speaker 1: that makes sense. There's a double double utility. It's it's

679
00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:23,720
Speaker 1: the radar dish and yeah, exactly exactly. And so while

680
00:44:23,880 --> 00:44:27,000
Speaker 1: the wild asked species can run as fast as horses,

681
00:44:27,400 --> 00:44:31,280
Speaker 1: they like their domesticated donkey kindred, are not easily intimidated.

682
00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:36,239
Speaker 1: They will defend themselves. You know. They don't really have

683
00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:40,480
Speaker 1: the same condensed, permanent herd structure as like zebras. Like

684
00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:43,040
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, they can have this like loose herd

685
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:47,120
Speaker 1: structure where they will socialize and they can actually become

686
00:44:47,280 --> 00:44:50,759
Speaker 1: quite large, like up to fifty individuals. They'll like hang

687
00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:52,759
Speaker 1: out during the day, but then in the evening they

688
00:44:52,880 --> 00:44:56,000
Speaker 1: kind of dissipate and go their separate ways. So they're like,

689
00:44:56,400 --> 00:44:59,640
Speaker 1: you know, they're not introverts, they're not like just always

690
00:44:59,680 --> 00:45:01,960
Speaker 1: cling to the group. They they've got their own stuff

691
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:04,439
Speaker 1: going on. But then they'll they're like up to hang

692
00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:07,160
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think that's kind of nice. Well, and

693
00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:09,160
Speaker 1: almost to the other way to look at it. To me,

694
00:45:09,200 --> 00:45:12,600
Speaker 1: it's like they would rather be at home, but like, look,

695
00:45:12,840 --> 00:45:16,120
Speaker 1: they go where the work is, so it's like, so, yeah,

696
00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:18,279
Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta go put in and put in

697
00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:20,920
Speaker 1: some time at this acre over here because this is

698
00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:26,239
Speaker 1: where the grass is or whatever. Right, Yes, I mean,

699
00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:29,560
Speaker 1: I think they do enjoy each other's company though, because

700
00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:32,920
Speaker 1: it seems like even though they're perfectly capable of defending

701
00:45:32,960 --> 00:45:37,279
Speaker 1: themselves when resources are more abundant, they do like to

702
00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:40,520
Speaker 1: be around each other. And they are very affectionate. You know,

703
00:45:40,560 --> 00:45:43,160
Speaker 1: when they bond with people, they will like nuzzle you

704
00:45:43,239 --> 00:45:46,520
Speaker 1: and they will hang out with you. I've seen videos

705
00:45:46,520 --> 00:45:49,359
Speaker 1: of people who have like house donkeys who like come

706
00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:51,600
Speaker 1: in the house and like cuddle with them in bed.

707
00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:54,480
Speaker 1: I was already on the border about like letting my

708
00:45:54,640 --> 00:45:57,600
Speaker 1: dog sleep in my bed sometimes. I mean she has

709
00:45:57,640 --> 00:45:59,319
Speaker 1: to sleep in the crate at night, but she'll like

710
00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:02,080
Speaker 1: wake me up in the morning. Uh, you know with

711
00:46:02,200 --> 00:46:06,680
Speaker 1: dog breath. But like having a whole whole ass ass

712
00:46:06,680 --> 00:46:08,839
Speaker 1: sleep in your bed is a little bit a lot

713
00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:14,239
Speaker 1: that's wild. Yeah, yeah, I mean you're gonna have a

714
00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:16,680
Speaker 1: pretty It is a different kind of bed than I own.

715
00:46:16,719 --> 00:46:20,680
Speaker 1: I suppose. Yeah, you gotta have a structurally stable bed.

716
00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:24,360
Speaker 1: But there are other species of wild donkey found outside

717
00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:29,919
Speaker 1: of Africa. Um, such as the ongers Hogs are found

718
00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:32,799
Speaker 1: all over Asia and the Middle East. They used to

719
00:46:32,840 --> 00:46:35,279
Speaker 1: have a wider range that included more of the Middle

720
00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:38,759
Speaker 1: Eastern Europe, but their populations dwindled. There is probably our

721
00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:42,640
Speaker 1: fault in case you're wondering. They generally look like a

722
00:46:42,680 --> 00:46:47,440
Speaker 1: reddish brown donkey with white bellies. They're quite beautiful. Uh.

723
00:46:47,480 --> 00:46:50,800
Speaker 1: There's also the kiang, which is the largest wild donkey

724
00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:55,719
Speaker 1: who is found in the Tibetan Plateau in the montane grasslands. Uh.

725
00:46:55,760 --> 00:46:59,320
Speaker 1: There are more of a chestnut brown with white bellies. Uh.

726
00:46:59,360 --> 00:47:03,280
Speaker 1: And they will do this behavior that is really amazing

727
00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:06,560
Speaker 1: where they will form rings where they face each other

728
00:47:06,840 --> 00:47:10,640
Speaker 1: with their butts sticking out and start kicking outward at

729
00:47:10,680 --> 00:47:15,880
Speaker 1: any predators that is foolish enough to try to approach

730
00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:19,520
Speaker 1: this angry ring of kicking asses with their asses out.

731
00:47:20,880 --> 00:47:27,240
Speaker 1: That's some like, yeah, that's that's some like basic Greek infantrition. Yeah,

732
00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:30,320
Speaker 1: they've got like the Spartan I don't remember what that's spartan.

733
00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:34,440
Speaker 1: What was it like that structure with the shield. I

734
00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:39,160
Speaker 1: don't it's like the shield formation thingth like that, something

735
00:47:39,200 --> 00:47:41,879
Speaker 1: like that, something like that. I didn't pay him enough

736
00:47:41,920 --> 00:47:45,520
Speaker 1: attention in the you know, history classes, but yeah, like

737
00:47:45,560 --> 00:47:50,800
Speaker 1: they flanks, uh wolves and stuff. It's really impressive. I

738
00:47:50,840 --> 00:47:53,200
Speaker 1: guess it makes sense. And yeah, that's if you're like,

739
00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:57,400
Speaker 1: if your body is makes it so that kicking backwards

740
00:47:57,480 --> 00:48:01,640
Speaker 1: is the most effective thing you can do, right, And

741
00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:04,040
Speaker 1: I mean they can stomp with their front lengths, but

742
00:48:04,120 --> 00:48:07,360
Speaker 1: the the effectiveness of the of the lens thing that

743
00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:10,160
Speaker 1: they're doing is like they're sensitive bits like their next

744
00:48:10,280 --> 00:48:15,279
Speaker 1: and they're right inside and then outside is just like

745
00:48:15,600 --> 00:48:20,400
Speaker 1: strong butts and kicks coming out for these for these wolves,

746
00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:23,040
Speaker 1: which I feel a little sorry for the wolves, but

747
00:48:23,200 --> 00:48:25,440
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, I mean that that is a little

748
00:48:25,520 --> 00:48:29,320
Speaker 1: the thing, it's like, actually being a predator in nature

749
00:48:29,719 --> 00:48:34,960
Speaker 1: sucks so bad. You're just starving. People are like see

750
00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:37,719
Speaker 1: them as sort of the antagonists and like that they're

751
00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:41,440
Speaker 1: fearless kind of just going around enjoying murdering, but they

752
00:48:41,560 --> 00:48:45,600
Speaker 1: live in constant fear and they'll actually be That's why

753
00:48:45,600 --> 00:48:49,040
Speaker 1: they're so easily intimidated by donkeys is if they're if

754
00:48:49,080 --> 00:48:51,400
Speaker 1: they're injured, that can be it for them, because if

755
00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:55,000
Speaker 1: they can't hunt, they're gone. So like, even as minor

756
00:48:55,040 --> 00:48:58,400
Speaker 1: injury can actually kill them. All these like back to

757
00:48:58,560 --> 00:49:01,080
Speaker 1: nature assets like oh, I've a lone wolf. It's like

758
00:49:01,160 --> 00:49:06,080
Speaker 1: lone wolves could die from a faking paper cut, Like

759
00:49:06,320 --> 00:49:09,640
Speaker 1: it sucks to be a lone wolf. Yeah, lone wolves

760
00:49:09,719 --> 00:49:13,480
Speaker 1: like are usually the ones that are gonners. You know.

761
00:49:13,600 --> 00:49:15,520
Speaker 1: That's the one good lesson we could learn from the

762
00:49:15,560 --> 00:49:18,239
Speaker 1: Game of Thrones is that actually, no, it's not being

763
00:49:18,280 --> 00:49:21,520
Speaker 1: a lone wolf. They have a pack formation that's very

764
00:49:21,680 --> 00:49:23,799
Speaker 1: suitable for them. But yeah, if you if you want

765
00:49:23,840 --> 00:49:26,480
Speaker 1: to be a rugged individual, I think donkeys are a

766
00:49:26,560 --> 00:49:30,239
Speaker 1: much better example because they still care about their community,

767
00:49:30,280 --> 00:49:32,879
Speaker 1: but they're okay with kind of being on their own

768
00:49:32,920 --> 00:49:34,959
Speaker 1: as well, and so I think that is a much more.

769
00:49:35,520 --> 00:49:39,440
Speaker 1: That's a thing to aspire to by it's by necessity,

770
00:49:39,560 --> 00:49:42,319
Speaker 1: like you you are, you're an individual by necessity, but

771
00:49:42,800 --> 00:49:47,520
Speaker 1: you that's yeah, that's also true of human lone wolves.

772
00:49:47,640 --> 00:49:50,719
Speaker 1: They just don't they don't see the world in a

773
00:49:51,040 --> 00:49:54,440
Speaker 1: correct way, right, I mean like yeah, but like if

774
00:49:54,480 --> 00:49:57,560
Speaker 1: you're more of an introvert or solitary person, you can

775
00:49:57,600 --> 00:50:01,040
Speaker 1: still you know, you can still have the courage of

776
00:50:01,080 --> 00:50:05,040
Speaker 1: a donkey and defend. Yeah. Yeah, well and and know

777
00:50:05,239 --> 00:50:07,560
Speaker 1: that you're you know, it's all built off of this

778
00:50:07,760 --> 00:50:11,239
Speaker 1: society that we have all agreed, you know, helps each other,

779
00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:18,000
Speaker 1: even if you don't exactly, yes, exactly. So we have

780
00:50:18,200 --> 00:50:23,160
Speaker 1: to play quick game of gifts. Who's squawking? Last week's Mr.

781
00:50:23,200 --> 00:50:29,640
Speaker 1: Animals sound was with this hint. It has a prehensile tail,

782
00:50:29,920 --> 00:50:41,560
Speaker 1: a hunger for eucalyptus and fresh meat. This is Australia's

783
00:50:41,680 --> 00:50:47,080
Speaker 1: brush tail possum. So congratulations to Joey P who gets correctly,

784
00:50:47,160 --> 00:50:50,680
Speaker 1: and to runner up Ido R who gets a possum.

785
00:50:50,760 --> 00:50:54,960
Speaker 1: But the North American variety, so not quite right. So

786
00:50:55,000 --> 00:50:59,880
Speaker 1: the brush tail possum is a marsupial found in Australia.

787
00:51:00,120 --> 00:51:03,359
Speaker 1: They're like the opossums we have in the US, uh

788
00:51:03,400 --> 00:51:06,319
Speaker 1: in terms of both being marsupials, but they're actually not

789
00:51:06,480 --> 00:51:11,160
Speaker 1: all that closely related, so they're not they're related and

790
00:51:11,239 --> 00:51:15,320
Speaker 1: that they're both marsupials, but they're not the super most

791
00:51:15,480 --> 00:51:21,920
Speaker 1: closely related of the marsupials. So the Australian brush tail

792
00:51:22,040 --> 00:51:26,600
Speaker 1: possum looks like a giant mouse with a fluffy, brushy tail.

793
00:51:26,719 --> 00:51:32,720
Speaker 1: It's extremely adorable, but like the American opossum, they are

794
00:51:32,760 --> 00:51:37,560
Speaker 1: adept at taking an advantage of human habitation in raid gardens,

795
00:51:37,680 --> 00:51:42,560
Speaker 1: kitchens and trash cans, or even boxes of pastries. There's

796
00:51:42,600 --> 00:51:46,800
Speaker 1: this really cute picture of possum just inside a box

797
00:51:46,960 --> 00:51:52,200
Speaker 1: of pastries, jam all over its mouth. Tommy distended. It's

798
00:51:52,239 --> 00:51:54,840
Speaker 1: my favorite picture and I feel like it represents me

799
00:51:54,920 --> 00:51:58,000
Speaker 1: the most of any animal. While they do eat a

800
00:51:58,000 --> 00:52:00,399
Speaker 1: lot of eucalyptus, they won't turn their nose up at

801
00:52:00,480 --> 00:52:04,200
Speaker 1: fresh meat. They will eat rats or other small animals.

802
00:52:04,840 --> 00:52:09,840
Speaker 1: So onto this week's mry animal sound the hint. I

803
00:52:09,920 --> 00:52:13,239
Speaker 1: know Father's Day was a couple weeks ago, but it's

804
00:52:13,280 --> 00:52:16,720
Speaker 1: still not too late to celebrate the amazing dad who

805
00:52:16,760 --> 00:52:25,239
Speaker 1: makes this sound. M m m m if you think

806
00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:27,040
Speaker 1: you know the answer, you can write to me at

807
00:52:27,120 --> 00:52:32,560
Speaker 1: Creature feature Pod at gmail dot com. Well, thank you

808
00:52:32,640 --> 00:52:38,120
Speaker 1: so much for joining me today. Where can people find you? Oh,

809
00:52:38,160 --> 00:52:42,440
Speaker 1: I guess just enter tea on anything must musmall t

810
00:52:42,640 --> 00:52:47,440
Speaker 1: I yos. This racist is going on tour, so we

811
00:52:47,480 --> 00:52:50,880
Speaker 1: can go to suboptimal pods dot com and find out tickets.

812
00:52:51,320 --> 00:52:57,640
Speaker 1: What are we doing Boston, Boston, Austin, Minneapolis and Brooklyn currently.

813
00:52:57,800 --> 00:53:00,120
Speaker 1: I think that is honestly probably gonna be our main shows.

814
00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:05,640
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's that's it. That's where you can find awesome.

815
00:53:06,400 --> 00:53:09,040
Speaker 1: Please do it because you know that is It's a

816
00:53:09,080 --> 00:53:12,240
Speaker 1: great podcast, and I thought the blog was great. Thank

817
00:53:12,280 --> 00:53:16,799
Speaker 1: you appreciate, Thank you so much for joining. If you're

818
00:53:16,840 --> 00:53:19,319
Speaker 1: enjoying the podcast, you know to leave a review and

819
00:53:19,440 --> 00:53:21,719
Speaker 1: I you print out all the reviews and I am

820
00:53:21,760 --> 00:53:24,480
Speaker 1: adding it to my paper mache man and you know,

821
00:53:24,719 --> 00:53:27,360
Speaker 1: so please help me with that project. Thanks to the

822
00:53:27,360 --> 00:53:30,240
Speaker 1: Space Classics for their super awesome song Exo Alumina. Creature

823
00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:32,520
Speaker 1: features a production of I Heart Radio for more podcasts

824
00:53:32,560 --> 00:53:34,239
Speaker 1: like the one you just heard, visiting I heard Radio

825
00:53:34,239 --> 00:53:36,279
Speaker 1: app Apple podcast Day. Hey guess what wherever you listen

826
00:53:36,280 --> 00:53:39,040
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows and I did that in one breath. Amazing.

827
00:53:39,200 --> 00:53:41,759
Speaker 1: See you next Wednesday. M