mule head silhouette

[her uses of the word mule, see mule (disambiguation). In its common modern meaning, a mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Compare hinny — the offspring of a male horse and a female donkey. The term "mule" (Latin mulus) was formerly applied to the offspring of any two creatures of different species — in modern usage, a "hybrid". The mule, easier to breed and usually larger in size than a hinny, has monopolised the attention of breeders. The chromosome match-up more often occurs when the jack (male donkey) is the sire and the mare (female horse) is the dam. It has been known for people to let a stallion (male horse) run with a jenny (female donkey) for as long as six years before getting her pregnant. 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. See more at Wikipedia.org...]