Asinara donkey
equus asinus latin

The island also harbors several rarely-seen species, including the white Asinara donkey.

In some areas domestic donkeys have returned to the wild and established feral populations such as those of the Burro of North America and the Asinara donkey of Sardinia, Italy, both of which have protected status.

The fauna numbers around 80 wild species of terrestrial vertebrates, including mouflon, wild boar, horses, Sardinian donkeys and the white Asinara donkey, which was introduced onto the island at the beginning of the 1800s, and probably abandoned when the inhabitants were moved to Stintino.

Donkey (Equus asinus)

Traditionally, the scientific name for the donkey is Equus asinus asinus based on the principle of priority used for scientific names of animals.

In their book Donkey: The Mystique of Equus Asinus, Tobias and Morrison examined donkeys through an interdisciplinary ecological approach.

Both horses and donkeys belong to the genus Equus, but Equus caballus has 64 chromosomes, while Equus asinus only has 62.

Feral donkeys in Australia (and elsewhere) are donkeys (scientific name Equus asinus) which escaped from captivity, and are living and breeding in the wild.

This means that the proper scientific name for the donkey is Equus africanus asinus when it is considered a subspecies, and Equus asinus when it is considered a species.

They were hunted in Syria, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Iran, and Central Asia; and domesticated asses (Equus asinus) were imported into Mesopotamia, probably from Egypt, but wild horses apparently did not live there.

A Map With around 3000 donkeys active on Lamu, Equus asinus is still the main form of transport here, and this sanctuary was established by the International Donkey Protection Trust of Sidmouth, UK, to improve the lot of the island's hard-working beasts of burden.