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The origins of donkey domestication

Date:
September 9, 2022
Source:
CNRS
Summary:
The donkey has shaped the history of humankind, both as a source of power for farm work, and of transportation in sometimes hard to reach areas. To understand the origins of it domestication, scientists built and analyzed the most complete panel of genomes ever studied for this animal. The researchers reveal that the donkey was first domesticated in Africa in 5,000 B.C.E.
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The donkey has shaped the history of humankind, both as a source of power for farm work, and of transportation in sometimes hard to reach areas.

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Materials provided by CNRS. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

  1. Evelyn T. Todd, Laure Tonasso-Calvière, Loreleï Chauvey, Stéphanie Schiavinato, Antoine Fages, Andaine Seguin-Orlando, Pierre Clavel, Naveed Khan, Lucía Pérez Pardal, Laura Patterson Rosa, Pablo Librado, Harald Ringbauer, Marta Verdugo, John Southon, Jean-Marc Aury, Aude Perdereau, Emmanuelle Vila, Matilde Marzullo, Ornella Prato, Umberto Tecchiati, Giovanna Bagnasco Gianni, Antonio Tagliacozzo, Vincenzo Tinè, Francesca Alhaique, João Luís Cardoso, Maria João Valente, Miguel Telles Antunes, Laurent Frantz, Beth Shapiro, Daniel G. Bradley, Nicolas Boulbes, Armelle Gardeisen, Liora Kolska Horwitz, Aliye Öztan, Benjamin S. Arbuckle, Vedat Onar, Benoît Clavel, Sébastien Lepetz, Ali Akbar Vahdati, Hossein Davoudi, Azadeh Mohaseb, Marjan Mashkour, Olivier Bouchez, Cécile Donnadieu, Patrick Wincker, Samantha A. Brooks, Albano Beja-Pereira, Dong-Dong Wu, Ludovic Orlando. The genomic history and global expansion of domestic donkeys. Science, 2022; 377 (6611): 1172 DOI: 10.1126/science.abo3503

Cite This Page:

CNRS. "The origins of donkey domestication." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 9 September 2022. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/09/220909120734.htm>.
CNRS. (2022, September 9). The origins of donkey domestication. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 6, 2025 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/09/220909120734.htm
CNRS. "The origins of donkey domestication." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/09/220909120734.htm (accessed August 6, 2025).

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