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DNA reveals donkeys were domesticated 7,000 years ago in East Africa
Science News ^
| September 8, 2022
| Freda Kreier
Posted on 09/13/2022 9:10:56 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
From pulling Mesopotamian war chariots to grinding grain in the Middle Ages, donkeys have carried civilization on their backs for centuries. DNA has now revealed just how ancient humans’ relationship with donkeys really is.
The genetic instruction books of over 200 donkeys from countries around the world show that these beasts of burden were domesticated about 7,000 years ago in East Africa, researchers report in the Sept. 9 Science...
This discovery shows that donkeys were domesticated in one fell swoop, roughly 3,000 years before horses.
DNA has great potential for unraveling humankind’s shared history with our animal companions. In 2021, Orlando and his colleagues used DNA from the bones of horses to track their domestication to the Eurasian steppes, in what’s now southwestern Russia, more than 4,200 years ago...
Archaeological evidence — including a 5,000-year-old Egyptian tablet depicting marching asses, sheep and cattle — zeroed in on Africa as the most probable contender. But genetic studies attempting to pin down when and where donkeys were domesticated have been largely inconclusive.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: animalhusbandry; donkey; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble
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CITATIONS
E.T. Todd et al. The genomic history and global expansion of domestic donkeys. Science. Vol. 377, September 9, 2022, p. 1172. doi: 10.1126/science.abo3503.
1
posted on
09/13/2022 9:10:56 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...
2
posted on
09/13/2022 9:11:23 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
To: SunkenCiv
Who said you couldn’t change the world sitting on your ass?
3
posted on
09/13/2022 9:34:20 PM PDT
by
I-ambush
(We watched the moment of defeat, played back over on the video screen. )
To: SunkenCiv
This is asinine “science.”
To: irishjuggler
No, but yours is an asinine post.
5
posted on
09/13/2022 9:39:01 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
To: SunkenCiv
And then, around 1832, they went batcrap crazy again.
6
posted on
09/13/2022 9:39:43 PM PDT
by
Salamander
(Please visit my profile page help save my beloved dog's life. https://www.givesendgo.com/G2FUF)
To: Salamander
7
posted on
09/13/2022 9:43:22 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
To: SunkenCiv
To: SunkenCiv
Too bad they didn't domesticate the people while they were at it.
9
posted on
09/13/2022 10:06:36 PM PDT
by
Governor Dinwiddie
(LORD, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.)
To: Governor Dinwiddie
10
posted on
09/13/2022 10:13:47 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
To: irishjuggler
This is asinine “science.”The whole world is coming apart at the seems, and these a$$ hats are worried about donkeys, from 7,000 years ago. What a$$ hats.
11
posted on
09/13/2022 10:29:27 PM PDT
by
Mark17
(Retired USAF air traffic controller. Father of USAF pilot. USAF aviation runs in the family )
To: Mark17
12
posted on
09/13/2022 10:45:45 PM PDT
by
Mark17
(Retired USAF air traffic controller. Father of USAF pilot. USAF aviation runs in the family )
To: SunkenCiv
So they domesticated the donkey and just stopped?
Did anyone there have a passing thought about how to get more work out of a donkey? Like the wheel, carts, chariots, wagons?
No they waited for the Sumerians to invent it and make it’s slow way to Africa.
To: SunkenCiv
"Archaeological evidence — including a 5,000-year-old Egyptian tablet depicting marching asses, " More recent evidence...
14
posted on
09/14/2022 12:13:32 AM PDT
by
clearcarbon
(Fraudulent elections have consequences.)
To: SunkenCiv
The donkeys here have never been domesticated :P
15
posted on
09/14/2022 12:14:24 AM PDT
by
Bikkuri
(I am proud to be a PureBlood.)
To: SunkenCiv
I guess that means AOC’s ancestors were from Africa.
To: SunkenCiv
Did any of them talk?
17
posted on
09/14/2022 3:12:08 AM PDT
by
COBOL2Java
(Gun laws empower criminals. Guns empower the people.)
To: SunkenCiv
And the world needs to know this WHY?
18
posted on
09/14/2022 3:12:59 AM PDT
by
MayflowerMadam
(Sometimes when you get to where you're supposed to be, it's too soon.)
To: SunkenCiv
this isn’t news, right? I thought it was pretty well accepted that donkeys are descended from the Asian wild ass which has a range across Ethiopia to Yemen to India?
19
posted on
09/14/2022 5:55:39 AM PDT
by
Cronos
To: MayflowerMadam; SunkenCiv
Donkeys as beasts of burden were key to the development of civilization and technology in the Eurasian cultural sphere (which included in my mind the horn of Africa as well as Mediterranean North Africa)
in the same way Goats and sheep originate from the Atlas mountains and wild wheat ranges from a nearby region - Gobekli Tepe.
On a prosaic level it also helps us identify genetic variations
20
posted on
09/14/2022 5:58:05 AM PDT
by
Cronos
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