AnAge entry for Equus asinus
Classification (HAGRID: 02636)
- Taxonomy
-
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Equidae
Genus: Equus
- Species
- Equus asinus
- Common name
- African wild ass
- Synonyms
- Asinus vulgaris, Equus asinus asinus, Equus asinus palaestinae, Equus africanus asinus
Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits
- Maximum longevity
- 47 years (captivity)
- Source
- ref. 671
- Sample size
- Large
- Data quality
- High
- Observations
When domesticated these animals are called donkeys. In captivity the African wild ass can live up to 28.5 years [0671]. Donkeys, however, have been reported to live up to 47 years, and females can reproduce for some 20 years [0434]. While these reports may be true, anecdotal reports of animals living over 50 years are doubtful.
Aged animals suffer from joint and dental issues, as well as vascular disorders [1389].
Life history traits (averages)
- Female sexual maturity
- 708 days
- Male sexual maturity
- 1,005 days
- Gestation
- 359 days
- Weaning
- Litter size
- 1 (viviparous)
- Litters per year
- Inter-litter interval
- Weight at birth
- 30,000 g
- Weight at weaning
- Adult weight
- 164,998 g
- Postnatal growth rate
- Maximum longevity residual
- 153%
Metabolism
- Typical body temperature
- Not yet available
- Basal metabolic rate
- 164.9200 W
- Body mass
- 177500.0 g
- Metabolic rate per body mass
- 0.000929 W/g
References
- [1389] Hoffman and Valencak (2020), A short life on the farm: aging and longevity in agricultural, large-bodied mammals (PubMed)
- [1390] Tapprest et al. (2017), Fallen stock data: An essential source of information for quantitative knowledge of equine mortality in France (PubMed)
- [0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
- [0036] Savage et al. (2004), The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology
- [1108] Argyle et al. (2003), Equine telomeres and telomerase in cellular immortalisation and ageing (PubMed)
- [0610] Ernest (2003), Life history characteristics of placental non-volant mammals
- [0730] Smith et al. (2003), Body mass of late Quaternary mammals
- [0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
- [0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
External Resources
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System
- ITIS 180690
- Animal Diversity Web
- ADW account
- Encyclopaedia of Life
- Search EOL
- NCBI Taxonomy
- Taxonomy ID 9793
- Entrez
- Search all databases
- Ageing Literature
- Search Google Scholar or Search PubMed
- Images
- Google Image search
- Internet
- Search Google