The domestication of donkeys occurred in Africa about 7,000 years ago

Around 5,000 BC, i.e. 7,000 years ago, the first domestication of the donkey took place in East Africa, this unfair, friendly and very useful animal for humans. This is revealed by the comprehensive analysis of 238 genomes of modern and ancient donkeys by researchers from different countries, who made the related publication in the journal “Science”.

Donkeys may not have the popularity or prestige of horses, but they have actually played a pivotal—and underrecognized—role in human history. The domestic donkey (Equus asinus) has been very important to humans for thousands of years, providing many cultures with its services for carrying, moving long distances and other tasks.

Despite its importance around the world, until now little was known about its origin, its domestication and its long coexistence with humans. To this day donkeys, although they continue to provide a valuable helping hand to low- and middle-income societies, especially in semi-arid and semi-mountainous regions, remain poorly studied by the scientific community (perhaps because people in modern post-industrial societies curse each other as…donkeys) .

The new study, led by evolutionary biologists Ludovic Orlando and Evelyn Todt of France’s Université Paul Sabatier, estimates that the animal’s initial domestication occurred once—rather than multiple times—somewhere in eastern Africa (probably Kenya). Then domesticated donkeys first spread to Egypt and Sudan, gradually throughout the “black” continent and from there to Eurasia, where various individual populations of the animal were isolated and differentiated (that’s why today not all donkeys look alike) .

The study identified, among other things, the genetic evidence of an important lineage of donkeys from the Levant region (Middle East) that existed 2,200 years ago and had a large genetic contribution to the donkeys of Asia. More generally, the scientists found strong evidence of frequent and significant interbreeding and admixture between ancient donkey populations.

Among other things, the researchers analyzed nine genomes of ancient donkeys from an archaeological site of a Roman villa in northeastern France 200-500 AD, which appears to have been a breeding center for the animals in question. Genetic data show that the Romans crossed African and European donkeys to create giant donkeys that stood 1.55 meters tall, about 25 centimeters taller than a typical donkey.

RES-EMP

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