Beer + Wikipedia = Zonkeys

During a lazy Sunday afternoon at a local brewery, four young minds convened to sample local brews and discuss a variety of subjects. As is often the case, the subjects being discussed degenerated rapidly from philosophical and intellectual, to the downright trivial and idiotic as beer consumption increased.

One such topic brought up for discussion was the breeding habits of donkeys. I can't really recall how such a topic came up, but anybody who's ever spent a lazy afternoon on the sip can probably relate to the downward conversational spiral that occurs.

Group consensus couldn't settle on the correct terms for different breeds of donkeys, so of course, basic research then had to be conducted in order to better inform our discussion. According to the various online sources consulted, our collective understanding behind the terms 'mule' and 'hinny' was clarified.

Of course, when investigating topics like this one, an alcohol-influenced troupe like ours is unlikely to be content with just answering the first and most basic question that arises. That little investigation was simply the entrance to the rabbit-hole, and down we went.

Firstly, we discovered that a mule is the result of breeding between a male donkey (Jack) and a female horse, and that a hinny is result of the opposite combination - female donkey (Jenny) and male horse. Interestingly - and hilariously - we also discovered that donkeys breed with a number of other equine species, though due to a mismatch in the number of chromosomes each species is made up of, the resulting offspring are almost always infertile.

One such cross-breed involves donkeys and zebras, which results in my personal favourite - the Zonkey (also referred to as a zebroid, zebrass or zedonk. Yes, I'm still laughing). I suppose if I possessed the kind of wrench a donkey does, I'd be looking to wield it wherever possible too.

I picked up a few other interesting facts during this research - there's evidence of donkeys first being domesticated as far back as 3000BC, and have been used extensively by humans throughout the 5000 years following. One recent example of their usefulness occurred on the battlefield at Gallipoli, where the ANZAC's used donkeys to retrieve wounded soldiers.

Apparently donkey is considered a delicacy in Italy and China, with some oriental restaurants specialising in serving the genitalia of male donkeys.

That's what I learned today.