Pastoral Scene

by Nava Thompson

Title

Pastoral Scene

Artist

Nava Thompson

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

A photo taken by Nava Jo Thompson of a little Jerusalem donkey with his mother in the pasture with some sheep. See also: ......Classic British seaside donkeys in SkegnessDonkeys vary considerably in size, depending on breed and management. The height at the withers ranges from 7.3 hands (31 inches, 79 cm) to 15.3 hands (63 inches, 160 cm), and the weight from 80 to 480 kg (180 to 1,060 lb). Working donkeys in the poorest countries have a life expectancy of 12 to 15 years;[14] in more prosperous countries, they may have a lifespan of 30 to 50 years..........Donkeys are adapted to marginal desert lands. Unlike wild and feral horses, wild donkeys in dry areas are solitary and do not form harems. Each adult donkey establishes a home range; breeding over a large area may be dominated by one jack.[15] The loud call or bray of the donkey, which typically lasts for twenty seconds[16][17] and can be heard for over three kilometres, may help keep in contact with other donkeys over the wide spaces of the desert.[citation needed] Donkeys have large ears, which may pick up more distant sounds,[citation needed] and may help cool the donkey's blood. Donkeys can defend themselves by biting, striking with the front hooves or kicking with the hind legs............A 3-week-old donkeyA jennet is normally pregnant for about 12 months, though the gestation period varies from 11 to 14 months,[5] and usually gives birth to a single foal. Births of twins are rare, though less so than in horses.[5] About 1.7 percent of donkey pregnancies result in twins; both foals survive in about 14 percent of those.......Although jennets come into heat within 9 or 10 days of giving birth, their fertility remains low and it is usual to wait one or two further oestrous cycles before rebreeding. Because of this and the longer gestation period, donkey breeders do not expect to obtain a foal every year, as horse breeders often do, but may plan for three foals in four years........Donkeys can interbreed with other members of the Equidae family, and are commonly interbred with horses. The hybrid between a jack and a mare is a mule, valued as a working and riding animal in many countries. Some large donkey breeds such as the Asino di Martina Franca, the Baudet de Poitou and the Mammoth Jack are raised only for mule production. The hybrid between a stallion and a jennet is a hinny, and is less common. Like other inter-species hybrids, mules and hinnies are usually sterile........Behaviour Donkeys have a notorious reputation for stubbornness, but this has been attributed to a much stronger sense of "self preservation" than exhibited by horses.[18] Likely based on a stronger prey instinct and a weaker connection with man, it is considerably more difficult to force or frighten a donkey into doing something it perceives to be dangerous for whatever reason. Once a person has earned their confidence they can be willing and companionable partners and very dependable in work........Although formal studies of their behaviour and cognition are rather limited, donkeys appear to be quite intelligent, cautious, friendly, playful, and eager to learn.......Donkey in an Egyptian painting c. 1298–1235 BC
Lt. Richard Alexander "Dick" Henderson using a donkey to carry a wounded soldier at the Battle of Gallipoli.The ancestors of the modern donkey are the Nubian and Somalian subspecies of African wild ass.[19][20] Remains of domestic donkeys dating to the fourth millennium BC have been found in Ma'adi in Lower Egypt, and it is believed that the domestication of the donkey was accomplished long after the domestication of cattle, sheep and goats in the seventh and eighth millennia BC. Donkeys were probably first domesticated by pastoral people in Nubia, and they supplanted the ox as the chief pack animal of that culture. The domestication of donkeys served to increase the mobility of pastoral cultures, having the advantage over ruminants of not needing time to chew their cud, and were vital in the development of long-distance trade across Egypt. In the Dynasty IV era of Egypt, between 2675 and 2565 BC, wealthy members of society were known to own over 1,000 donkeys, employed in agriculture, as dairy and meat animals and as pack animals.[21] In 2003, the tomb of either King Narmer or King Hor-Aha (two of the first Egyptian pharaohs) was excavated and the skeletons of ten donkeys were found buried in a manner usually used with high ranking humans. These burials show the importance of donkeys to the early Egyptian state and its ruler

Uploaded

May 18th, 2013

Statistics

Viewed 163 Times  -  Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/13/2024 at 2:19 PM

Colors

Embed

Share

Sales Sheet

Tags