Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of
Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and
Speaker 1: this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures,
Speaker 1: ideas and monsters in time. When it comes to the
Speaker 1: fauna of the planet Aracus, your mind probably turns to
Speaker 1: the famous sandworm. Alternatively, you might think of muad Dib,
Speaker 1: the desert mouse, descended from terrestrial kangaroo mice that were
Speaker 1: introduced to the planet by human colonists. But another introduced
Speaker 1: species concerns me today, the Coulon. Yes, the donkeys of
Speaker 1: Frank Herbert's Doone. The coulon are only mentioned twice in
Speaker 1: the original novel, both times in the appendix, were told
Speaker 1: that they were once wild donkeys of Earth's asiatic step
Speaker 1: and were introduced and adapted for work on the planet Aracus.
Speaker 1: We also learn that some smugglers made use of coulon
Speaker 1: as pack animals, but quote the water price was high
Speaker 1: even when the beasts were fitted with modified still suits.
Speaker 1: This is the tidbit that enthralls me every time I
Speaker 1: reread it. Perhaps it's just the mental image of a
Speaker 1: donkey clad in a futuristic water reclamation suit, then used
Speaker 1: by smugglers to traffic psychedelic space drugs. While the Dune
Speaker 1: Encyclopedia is usually quick to expand on concepts from the novels,
Speaker 1: they offer very little on the donkeys of Done except
Speaker 1: to claim that the Fremen inhabitants of Aracus employed them
Speaker 1: as well and use the animal's milk in their cuisine.
Speaker 1: By the way, this book features a few recipes you
Speaker 1: can prepare yourself. I often wondered why Frank Herbert would
Speaker 1: choose to have introduced donkeys on Aracus and not camels. Camels,
Speaker 1: after all, are the ships of the desert highly suited
Speaker 1: for dry air environments, but the donkey, too, is a
Speaker 1: highly evolved desert ungulate. Both species offer energy and water savings,
Speaker 1: but is one truly a better choice than the other?
Speaker 1: Was I wrong to question Herbert's wisdom in giving oracous
Speaker 1: the donkey as usuff at all? Explore In energy costs
Speaker 1: of walking in camels from nine, the camel benefits from
Speaker 1: low energy cost of walking, which results in an economy
Speaker 1: of heat production and food water requirements. Plus, the authors
Speaker 1: argue that the camel is unequaled by other mammals in
Speaker 1: its ability to carry heavy loads for long distances. The
Speaker 1: domestication and popularity of the camel is a topic of
Speaker 1: great interest and was the subject of historian Richard Bullets
Speaker 1: book The Camel and the Wheel. In his two thousand
Speaker 1: five book Hunters, Herders and Hamburgers, he mentions that he
Speaker 1: nearly wrote a book on the donkey as well. Both
Speaker 1: animals would have entered the world of human domestication, he
Speaker 1: writes between four thousand and three thousand b c. As
Speaker 1: Roger S. Bagnal discusses in the paper The Camel, the
Speaker 1: Wagon and the Donkey in later Roman Egypt, both creatures
Speaker 1: had their advantages depending on the job and the environment.
Speaker 1: The camel was superior in its greater range, endurance, and
Speaker 1: ability to go long distances without water, but it was
Speaker 1: also more expensive than the donkey, and its advantages would
Speaker 1: be less impressive if it was required for short and
Speaker 1: or infrequent trips. And so what of the world of Iracus.
Speaker 1: We might well assume that the mighty camel's long distance,
Speaker 1: high volume skills were less necessary within a civilization full
Speaker 1: of high tech ornithopters, and on a world where travel
Speaker 1: across the open desert is so terribly risky due to
Speaker 1: the sandworms attraction to the rhythm afoot and hoofsteps. Perhaps
Speaker 1: then the donkey was the best fit and the domesticated
Speaker 1: species most likely to survive on aracous long term, as
Speaker 1: it was perhaps cheaper to keep and better used for
Speaker 1: short travel in protected areas and also as a dairy animal.
Speaker 1: Tune into additional episodes of The Monster Fact or The
Speaker 1: Artifact each week. As always, you can email us at
Speaker 1: contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff
Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind is production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the i
Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.