The Mule

by Read Listen Learn

When a horse isn't tough enough for the job and a donkey is too small, you need a mule. That's why these domesticated animals are most common in deserts, mountains and jungles; and why, until modern times, they have often been the best choice for farmers, explorers, soldiers, those needing to shift heavy loads and many others with a hard job to do in a difficult environment.

They've been around since before records began and they will most likely be with us for a good while yet. However, the mule is different than almost any other animal. It isn't a species of its own; it's a hybrid – a cross between two different kinds of animal or plant, making a new and slightly different type, usually in the hope of combining the best qualities of both parents. And, luckily, this is exactly what happens with mules. They bring together many of the best aspects of their donkey father and their horse mother and live longer than either. Which could lead you to ask why there aren't more of them and fewer horses and donkeys. The answer is that mules, though they are born clearly either male or female, are virtually always sterile.

There is a mirror image of the mule, the ‘hinny’ which, as one might guess, is the offspring of a female donkey and a stallion. However, this hybrid is, genetically, less common because the stallion is less likely to impregnate the donkey than when the pairing is the other way round and produces mules. And, despite the problem of genetic sterility, people even today are happy to use valuable mares to have mules as babies because, in many situations, the mule’s mixture of the virtues of a donkey and a horse makes it more useful and usable than any horse.

Like its donkey father, it is far stronger than a horse but, unlike its father, it is as big as or bigger than one. Like a donkey, it can tolerate intense heat and freezing cold and live on low quality food or grazing. With its long, horse-like legs it can move as fast as a horse and cover much more distance than a donkey. It can be a stubborn animal but not so much as its notoriously obstinate father. It does, though, share the donkey's steady, even temperament and courage in the face of danger. All of which could explain why it is so often used by armies, especially in battle.

Another great advantage of the mule is that it has a far higher resistance to insects and disease than either its mother or its father. It almost never gets sick and this is said to be a result of something called 'hybrid vigour', a phenomenon that means hybrids not only inherit virtues from both parents but often improve on them. For example, mules are much more intelligent than either of their parents.

And, maybe, it's that high intelligence that makes people very fond of mules. Muleteers are very loyal to their animals and vice versa. So, with all these virtues, it's strange to think that the first few mules were almost surely a man-made accident when prehistoric farmers probably left a big, male donkey and a small, female horse together in the same field, never thinking that romance would occur between animals of different species. Accident or not, the advantages of mules were quickly evident and almost all mules since then have been bred intentionally. Mules, since ancient times, have been a part of agriculture and transport across Southern Europe, the Middle East and many parts of Asia, particularly China, and also North Africa.

When the Spanish started colonising South America, a lot of the wealth they took was in minerals (above all, gold and silver) and the mines they came from were usually in high, rocky mountains under a hot sun, with freezing nights and snow fields to cross. Soon, the Spanish had set up mule-breeding ranches to answer the ever-increasing demand. Indeed, special male donkeys were brought from southern Spain and Catalonia to guarantee the best quality of mules. Mules were also in constant demand in the southern U.S. but more for agricultural purposes than for mines.

Throughout their relatively short history, mules have gone to war time and again. They are almost never used to charge at the enemy but their unflappable courage under fire makes them ideal for taking supplies right into battle or dragging the heavy guns up to the front line. And, as military animals, they have survived the arrival of cars, trucks and planes, etc. far better than horses or camels have.

Mules were employed all through the Second World War, by all sides. When the fighting was in mountains or jungle, or both together, there really wasn't any other choice. The British used hundreds of thousands of mules in Burma and, when no more were available locally, they were shipped in from Bolivia, South America, where the mule breeding ranches, mentioned earlier, were not only still in operation but were turning out more mules than ever before.

The mules that carried supplies and took away wounded men were loved by the soldiers who depended on them. However, mules do have one unfortunate habit: they like to bray like a donkey, especially as the sun goes down and sometimes for many minutes together. It is a very ugly noise that carries a long distance. Certainly far enough to let the enemy know where you are. So, sadly, the British and Indian army vets cut the vocal cords of every mule, thereby silencing them for life. The mules were probably upset by this loss (they love braying), but nobody else was.

And the story of the mule at war hasn't ended yet. The Russians, back in the 1980s, used mules in their war in Afghanistan, as do the U.S. forces even today because they are so sure-footed on narrow, mountain tracks. In fact, the U.S. army has recently opened a training centre for muleteers in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. They run an eleven-day course to teach American soldiers how to handle and load a mule.

We should explain, at this point, that mules vary greatly in size, weighing 50 to 500 kg, and colour. Different sizes and types of mule are needed for the different tasks they do: we can ride them, load them with baggage, and use them to pull ploughs, etc. The nature of the mule is largely dictated by its horse mother. The mule will be her size or bigger and what she is good at, it will also be good at. Big, strong mules for pulling heavy carts are bred, of course, from cart horses; and smaller, thinner mules good for riding are often bred from ponies.

The art of mule breeding is alive and well in areas like Latin America, North Africa and China where rural poverty and some very rough terrain mean that mules are still needed for work. Or, in the southern United States where their practical use is finished but where they are still held in great affection so that some people breed them as a hobby, using better and better mares to produce mules of extraordinary size and quality.

To finish, and in all fairness, we should mention the few little drawbacks that mules can have: they don't really like dogs (dogs get along better with horses). They can, and sometimes do, kick. And they can kick hard in any direction. But, don't be put off. Mules surely make wonderful pets or useful working animals – if you can stand that terrible noise they like making!