 |
Business | Industries | Finance | Tax |
| Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
|
|||||
| First Prev [ 1 2 ] Next Last |
The mule, easier to breed and usually larger in size than a hinny, has monopolised the attention of breeders. Male mules and hinnies are both sterile, as are almost all female mules and hinnies (see External links ). The sterility is attributed to the different number of chromosomes the two species have. Donkeys have 62 chromosomes, while horses have 64.
A mare mule, called a "molly," has estrus cycles and can carry a fetus, as has occasionally happened naturally but also through embryo transfer. The difficulty is in getting the molly pregnant in the first place. The chromosome match-up more often occurs when the jack is the sire and the mare is the dam. It has been known for people to let a stallion run with a jenny for as long as six years before getting her pregnant.
In its short thick head, long ears, thin limbs, small narrow hooves, short mane , absence of chestnuts (horny growths) inside the hocks, and tail destitute of hair at the root, the mule appears asinine in form. In height and body, shape of neck and croup, uniformity of coat, and teeth, it appears equine. Also characteristic of the mule is its enormous phallus, hence the popular colloquial expression. It has the voice neither of the ass nor of the horse, but emits a feeble hoarse noise. Most mules have a brown or bay-brown coat — bay, or bright bay, or piebald occur rarely; a chestnut tint sometimes appears.
The mule possesses the sobriety, patience, endurance and sure-footedness of the ass, and the vigour, strength and courage of the horse. Operators of beasts of burden generally find mules preferable to horses: mules show less impatience under the pressure of heavy weights, while their skin, harder and less sensitive than that of horses, renders them more capable of resisting sun and rain.
Humans have used mules from early times; the inhabitants of MysiaMysia is a region in the north-west of Asia Minor. It is located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. In ancient times, it was inhabited by the Mysi. It was bounded by Lydia and Phrygia on the south, by Bithynia on the north-east, and by the Proponti and PaphlagoniaPaphlagonia was an ancient area on the northern central Black Sea coast of Anatolia, situated between Bithynia and Pontus, separated from Galatia by a prolongation to the east of the Bithynian Olympus. According to Strabo, the river Parthenius fromed the allegedly bred the first ones. The ancient GreekAncient Greece is the term used to describe the Greek-speaking world in ancient times. It refers not only to the territory of the present Greek state, but also to those areas settled in ancient times by Greeks: Cyprus, the Aegean coast of Turkey (then knos and especially Romans valued mules for transport, employing them to draw carriages and carry loads. Mules hauled barges in the early days of the Erie CanalThe Erie Canal (also known since 1918 as the Barge Canal is a canal in New York State, United States, that runs from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. Although the canal was first proposed in 1699, it was n. In the early 20th century use of mules survived mainly in military transport , being used to haul caissons and artillery through nearly impassable terrain, the bravery and focused intelligence of the animal serving it well in the midst of the noise and confusion of warfare.
Mules have become far less common since the rise of the automobileAn automobile usually called a car (an old word for carriage) or a truck is a wheeled vehicle that carries its own engine. Older terms include horseless carriage and motor car with "motor" referring to what is now usually called the engine. The act of ope, the motorized tractor, and other internal combustion-powered vehicles. They still find employment in less-developed countries, and in certain specialized roles for which they are still aptly suited. Mules can negotiate well on narrow, steep trails — such as the route from the South Rim down into the Grand Canyon. (The animal used for tourist transport on the Bright Angel Trail in the Grand Canyon is the burro, a variety of donkey.) Mules (and burros) can handle extremely rugged terrain and tracks that are too steep and twisted for either the less sure-footed horse or for a motor vehicle.
based on an article from 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
Muleshoe, Texas has a National Mule Memorial .| Politics | Business | Finance |
 |
 |
 |
|