Hinny - Wikipedia

Domestic horse–donkey hybrid

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Hinny
Conservation status
Domesticated
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Equidae
Subtribe:	Equina
Genus:	Equus
Species:	E. caballus♂ × E. asinus♀

A hinny is a domestic equine hybrid, the offspring of a male horse (a stallion) and a female donkey (a jenny). It is the reciprocal cross to the more common mule, which is the product of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The hinny is distinct from the mule both in physiology and temperament as a consequence of genomic imprinting and is also less common.

Many supposed examples of the jumart, which were thought to be a hybrid between a horse and a cow in European folklore, were found to be hinnies.[1]

Description

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The hinny is the offspring of a stallion and a jenny or female donkey, and is thus the reciprocal cross to the more common mule foaled by a jack (male donkey) out of a mare. Like the mule, the hinny displays hybrid vigour (heterosis).[2]: 36 

In general terms, in both these hybrids the foreparts and head of the animal are similar to those of the sire, while the hindparts and tail are more similar to those of the dam.[2]: 36  A hinny is generally smaller than a mule, with shorter ears and a lighter head; the tail is tasselled like that of its donkey mother.[2]: 37 

The distinct phenotypes of the hinny and the mule are partly attributable to genomic imprinting – an element of epigenetic inheritance.[3] Hinnies and mules differ in temperament despite sharing nuclear genomes; this too is believed to be attributable to the action of imprinted genes.[4]

Fertility, sterility and rarity

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According to most reports, hinnies are sterile and are not capable of reproduction.[2]: 37  The male hinny can mate but has testicles that will only produce malformed spermatozoa.[5] The dam of a foal carried to term in Henan, China, in 1981, is variously reported to have been a mule[6] or a hinny.[7]

References

[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hinnies. Look up hinny in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

1. ^ Zirkle, Conway (December 1941). "The Jumar or Cross between the Horse and the Cow". Isis. 33 (4): 486–506. doi:10.1086/358602.
2. ^ a b c d Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN 9781780647944.
3. ^ Hunter, Philip (2007). "The silence of genes. Is genomic imprinting the software of evolution or just a battleground for gender conflict?". EMBO Reports. 8 (5): 441–443. doi:10.1038/sj.embor.7400965. PMC 1866201. PMID 17471258.
4. ^ Wang, Xu; Miller, Donald C.; Harman, Rebecca; Antczak, Douglas F.; Clark, Andrew G. (2013). "Paternally expressed genes predominate in the placenta". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 110 (26): 10705–10710. Bibcode:2013PNAS..11010705W. doi:10.1073/pnas.1308998110. PMC 3696791. PMID 23754418.
5. ^ Zong, E.; Fan, G. (June 1989). "The variety of sterility and gradual progression to fertility in hybrids of the horse and donkey". Heredity. 62 (3): 393–406. Bibcode:1989Hered..62..393Z. doi:10.1038/hdy.1989.54. PMID 2753743. S2CID 25057091.
6. ^ Rong, Ruizhang; Cai, Huedi; Yang, Xiuqin; Wei, Jun (October 1985). "Fertile mule in China and her unusual foal". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 78 (10): 821–25. doi:10.1177/014107688507801006. PMC 1289946. PMID 4045884.
7. ^ Angus O. McKinnon, Edward L. Squires, Wendy E. Vaala, Dickson D. Varner (editors) (2011). Equine Reproduction, second edition. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9781444397635.

v t e Species of the genus Equus
Extinct species are marked †
Asses	African wild ass(Equus africanus) Nubian wild ass (Equus africanus africanus) Donkey (Equus africanus asinus) †Atlas wild ass (Equus africanus atlanticus) Somali wild ass (Equus africanus somaliensis) Onager / Asiatic wild ass(Equus hemionus) Mongolian wild ass (Equus hemionus hemionus) †Syrian wild ass (Equus hemionus hemippus) Indian wild ass (Equus hemionus khur) Turkmenian kulan (Equus hemionus kulan) Persian onager (Equus hemionus onager) †European wild ass (Equus hemionus hydruntinus) Kiang/Tibetan wild ass(Equus kiang) Western kiang (Equus kiang kiang) Northern kiang (Equus kiang chu) Eastern kiang (Equus kiang holdereri) Southern kiang (Equus kiang polyodon)
Horses	Wild horse (Equus ferus) Horse (Equus ferus caballus) †Tarpan (Equus ferus ferus) Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii)
Zebras	Plains zebra (Equus quagga) †Quagga (Equus quagga quagga) Burchell's zebra (Equus quagga burchellii) Grant's zebra (Equus quagga boehmi) Maneless zebra (Equus quagga borensis) Chapman's zebra (Equus quagga chapmani) Crawshay's zebra (Equus quagga crawshayi) Selous' zebra (Equus quagga selousi) Mountain zebra (Equus zebra) Cape mountain zebra (Equus zebra zebra) Hartmann's mountain zebra (Equus zebra hartmannae) Grévy's zebra (Equus grevy) Grévy's zebra (Equus grevy)
Hybrids	Hinny Kunga Mule Zebroid
PrehistoricEquus species	†Equus alaskae †Giant Cape zebra (Equus capensis) †Equus cedralensis †Equus complicatus †Equus conversidens †Equus crinidens †Equus cumminsii †Equus dalianensis †Equus excelsus †Equus fraternus †Equus gallicus †Equus giganteus †Equus lambei †Equus latipes †Equus lenensis †Equus mauritanicus †Equus mexicanus †Equus namadicus †Equus niobrarensis †Equus occidentalis †Equus pacificus †Equus parastylidens †Equus pectinatus †Hagerman horse (Equus simplicidens) †Equus semiplicatus †Equus scotti †Equus sivalensis †Equus stenonis †Equus uralensis †Equus yunnanensis
Equidae Evolution of the horse Wild horse Domestication of the horse

v t e Mammal hybrids
Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Class Mammalia
Bovidae	Bovid hybrid American Breed Beefalo Dwarf Lulu Dzo Jumart Sheep–goat hybrid Yakalo Żubroń
Camelidae	Cama Bukht Huarizo
Canidae	Canid hybrid Coydog Coywolf Dingo–dog hybrid Dogxim Eastern coyote Eastern wolf Great Lakes-boreal wolf Jackal–dog hybrid Sulimov dog Wolfdog
Cetacea	Clymene dolphin Wholphin Narluga
Elephantidae	Elephant hybrid
Equus	Equid hybrid Hinny Kunga Lord Morton's mare Mule Zebroid
Felidae	Felid hybrid Bengal cat Blynx Caraval Chausie Kanaani cat Kellas cat Savannah cat Serengeti cat Pumapard Panthera hybrid Liger Liliger Marozi Congolese spotted lion Tigon
Hominidae	Denisova 11 Human–animal hybrid Humanzee Humster Koolakamba Hybrid orangutan Human-Neanderthal hybrid
Macropodinae	Macropod hybrids
Sus	Iron Age pig
Mustela	Polecat–ferret hybrid Polecat–mink hybrid
Ursus	Ursid hybrid ABC Islands bear Grizzly–black bear hybrid Grizzly–polar bear hybrid
Lemuridae	Black-and-white ruffed lemur-Red ruffed lemur hybrid

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