Horse Gives Birth to Rare Poitou Donkey

A horse has given birth to a Poitou donkey, a rare breed of donkey that has a dark-brown, shaggy coat, sturdy build, and long ears. The donkey's biological mother was too week to sustain the pregnancy so the donkey embryo was implanted in a female horse. The experiment was undertaken by Australia's Monash University at their Institute of Reproduction and Development. The Institute's expertise was put to good use as implanted pregnancies like this do not normally succeed.

Although all species within the genus Equus are capable of interbreeding, most attempts to implant embryos fail. But researchers used a pioneering technique to trick the horse's immune system into accepting the pregnancy. This technique which brought the poitou through a successful birth now provides insights into the breeding of rare and endangered species. Now that this pregnancy succeeded, could the techniques be applied to other rare animals to help increase their numbers?

The Poitou donkey is the largest of all donkeys, often reaching a height of 1.5m at the withers and weights of up to 450kg. They breed was developed in France for the purpose of producing mules. Poitous are noted for their shaggy, matted coat and gentle nature.

Mules are the offspring produced by a cross between a male donkey and a female horse. Mules, like all horse-donkey hybrids (such as jennets which are produced by the cross of a male horse and a female donkey) are in most cases sterile (unable to produce their own offspring). This is due to the differing number of chromosomes in horses and donkeys.

Find out more:

• Rare Donkey's Even Rarer Birth (BBC News)
• The Poitou Donkey (Grottes de Han)
• Donkey (Wikipedia)