WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: Donkeys of Dune 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:05.640 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 0:00:05.640 --> 0:00:10.280 My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:13.320 this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.560 Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:24.079 ideas and monsters in time. When it comes to the 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:27.880 fauna of the planet Aracus, your mind probably turns to 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:32.320 the famous sandworm. Alternatively, you might think of muad Dib, 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:36.919 the desert mouse, descended from terrestrial kangaroo mice that were 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:42.080 introduced to the planet by human colonists. But another introduced 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:47.360 species concerns me today, the Coulon. Yes, the donkeys of 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:51.680 Frank Herbert's Doone. The coulon are only mentioned twice in 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:56.080 the original novel, both times in the appendix, were told 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:59.800 that they were once wild donkeys of Earth's asiatic step 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:04.640 and were introduced and adapted for work on the planet Aracus. 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:08.840 We also learn that some smugglers made use of coulon 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:12.120 as pack animals, but quote the water price was high 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:15.640 even when the beasts were fitted with modified still suits. 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:19.039 This is the tidbit that enthralls me every time I 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:21.560 reread it. Perhaps it's just the mental image of a 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:25.600 donkey clad in a futuristic water reclamation suit, then used 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:29.839 by smugglers to traffic psychedelic space drugs. While the Dune 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:34.240 Encyclopedia is usually quick to expand on concepts from the novels, 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:37.600 they offer very little on the donkeys of Done except 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:40.600 to claim that the Fremen inhabitants of Aracus employed them 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:43.959 as well and use the animal's milk in their cuisine. 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:47.320 By the way, this book features a few recipes you 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.760 can prepare yourself. I often wondered why Frank Herbert would 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:55.600 choose to have introduced donkeys on Aracus and not camels. Camels, 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:58.880 after all, are the ships of the desert highly suited 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:02.680 for dry air environments, but the donkey, too, is a 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:07.720 highly evolved desert ungulate. Both species offer energy and water savings, 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:10.120 but is one truly a better choice than the other? 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:13.959 Was I wrong to question Herbert's wisdom in giving oracous 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:22.120 the donkey as usuff at all? Explore In energy costs 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:26.200 of walking in camels from nine, the camel benefits from 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:29.360 low energy cost of walking, which results in an economy 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:33.760 of heat production and food water requirements. Plus, the authors 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:37.160 argue that the camel is unequaled by other mammals in 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:40.959 its ability to carry heavy loads for long distances. The 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:43.760 domestication and popularity of the camel is a topic of 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.120 great interest and was the subject of historian Richard Bullets 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:51.919 book The Camel and the Wheel. In his two thousand 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:55.360 five book Hunters, Herders and Hamburgers, he mentions that he 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:58.000 nearly wrote a book on the donkey as well. Both 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.440 animals would have entered the world of human domestication, he 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:05.880 writes between four thousand and three thousand b c. As 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:10.080 Roger S. Bagnal discusses in the paper The Camel, the 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:13.919 Wagon and the Donkey in later Roman Egypt, both creatures 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:17.239 had their advantages depending on the job and the environment. 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:21.560 The camel was superior in its greater range, endurance, and 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:25.240 ability to go long distances without water, but it was 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:28.399 also more expensive than the donkey, and its advantages would 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:31.760 be less impressive if it was required for short and 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:36.240 or infrequent trips. And so what of the world of Iracus. 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:39.880 We might well assume that the mighty camel's long distance, 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:44.400 high volume skills were less necessary within a civilization full 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:48.600 of high tech ornithopters, and on a world where travel 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:52.520 across the open desert is so terribly risky due to 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:58.680 the sandworms attraction to the rhythm afoot and hoofsteps. Perhaps 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:02.400 then the donkey was the best fit and the domesticated 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:06.280 species most likely to survive on aracous long term, as 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:09.400 it was perhaps cheaper to keep and better used for 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:13.600 short travel in protected areas and also as a dairy animal. 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:20.400 Tune into additional episodes of The Monster Fact or The 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:23.920 Artifact each week. As always, you can email us at 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:35.279 contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:37.479 to Blow Your Mind is production of I Heart Radio. 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:39.960 For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the i 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:42.839 heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:43.680 your favorite shows.