Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Photo of the Day - Mule Trio

River Trip, Salmon River, Idaho, August 2010
presented with some comments:
back in the day, mules were used to help haul cargo up and down the Salmon River. as time passed, and the nature of commerce and transport on the river changed, it was easier to let them loose to forage. it's still pretty isolated up in the range, but there are still herds of either completely wild or semi-domesticated animals that live up and down the banks of the river. one herd of horses we saw was actually led by a braying grey jack-ass, er. ... donkey, and most of the offspring definitely had those characteristics. (like yesterday's mare and foal, the mare was definitely a horse; her offspring, a mule.) i really liked this mule trio, because you can see all the different genetic possibilities when equines are left to cross breed. the colorings may be from the horse side of the tree, but those ears and muzzles give away the other side of the equation.

No comments:

Post a Comment