Dr. Faith Burden

But it is that lifelong connection with donkeys and mules that they become part of a family.

And I think that's what's so important when we see how donkeys and mules serve animals.

communities but particularly families all over the world they are a really important part of that family setup you know they might bring the drinking water they might take the kids to school they'll help harvest the crops and they are just such a valued family member and that works well for the donkey and for the the family right

And that's fine, isn't it?

Yes.

you know anything about donkey sweat interesting donkeys tend to sweat less than other equids it is something that you see now in certain environments you'll have horses mules and donkeys all together and donkeys don't tend to sweat anywhere near as much they will but it tends to be at much higher temperatures and that is because of their desert evolution

So they don't tend to trigger that response until much later than most other species.

So they preserve their water.

Yep.

So they will definitely blow gently on each other's noses or on a hand that's offered to them.

And they also have a reaction that's called the Fleming reaction, which is where they curl up their top lip.

And very often you'll see people posting it as something cute or funny.

That's the donkey getting smells into its olfactory system.

Oh.

And it's just something that they do to make sure they draw in as much smell as they possibly can.

So the sense of smell is really important to donkeys, not least because they're territorial.

So they leave markers, scent markers to let others know who they are and what they're up to.

Both.

They are tough and talented is the answer.

So again, they're a desert adapted animal that feeds normally on scrubby, thorny acacia trees, which are really woody, full of thorns.