# How old were you when you found out mules were sterile hybrids? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 30, 2015, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847 "2015-06-30T03:23:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/1 "2015-06-30T03:23:49Z")
I was like in my 20’s - it was a total shock. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/2 "2015-06-30T03:42:13Z")
That they are hybrids, as a kid. Although I’m sure I didn’t know the word hybrid but I knew they are cross species. That they are sterile, probably late teens. That a cross between a jack and a mare is called a mule but the cross between a stallion and a jenny is called a hinny, I was in my 30’s. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/3 "2015-06-30T03:46:04Z")
Oddly, even though I grew up in a rural area and actually worked on a farm one summer, I’m pretty sure I didn’t know mules were hybrids till I read the **Foundation** series by Asimov in my early teens, where the fact is mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/4 "2015-06-30T03:46:12Z")
At age 10 or less. Something to do with a Francis the Talking Mule movie. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/5 "2015-06-30T03:48:00Z")
I can’t recall ever not knowing. > [@Sahirrnee](#): > > That a cross between a jack and a mare is called a mule but the cross between a stallion and a jenny is called a hinny, I was in my 30’s. Now that, on the other hand, I didn’t learn until I was (checks watch) 40 years, 7 months, 3 days and several hours old. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/6 "2015-06-30T04:10:11Z")
I dunno how old I was, but I found out from Encyclopedia Brown. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/7 "2015-06-30T04:17:51Z")
As a teenager when I was reading about genetics and evolution. It was given as an example of hybrids, also including zorses, ligers, wolphins, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/8 "2015-06-30T04:24:13Z")
Quite young, due to being your stereotypical horse mad girl. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/9 "2015-06-30T04:27:59Z")
Dunnow, but a child. I remember Dad going over how to tell a donkey, a mule and a horse apart with my brothers when they were little, but I don’t remember him doing it with me; must have, though. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/10 "2015-06-30T04:55:28Z")
Definitely a child, less than 10. My parents both grew up around livestock and were always sharing science-y tidbits they thought were interesting so we knew lots of odds and ends. Didn’t know the hinny part though. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/11 "2015-06-30T05:03:37Z")
I think 7th grade biology. I knew they were a cross between a donkey and a horse before that but I don’t think I fully understood the implications of that or what “species” really were from a scientific definition standpoint until then. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/12 "2015-06-30T05:10:01Z")
I must have learned this before I was old enough to remember learning it. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/13 "2015-06-30T05:11:24Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > I must have learned this before I was old enough to remember learning it. This. I feel like I’ve always just known. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/14 "2015-06-30T05:16:32Z")
Probably about 12. I was reading a STAR TREK novel in which someone referred to Spock as a mule, so I looked it up. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/15 "2015-06-30T06:55:23Z")
Aged 11 – learnt about it in school, where as an “aside”, a waggish teacher posed the trick question “If you meet a man who informs you that he breeds mules for a living, how does that tell you that he’s a liar?” If not for this, it could well have been a good deal longer before I became aware of the beasts’ sterility – I live in a country where mules are rather seldom met with in real life. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/16 "2015-06-30T07:06:12Z")
Whatever age I was when I read my first Encyclopedia Brown book. Otherwise, it’s not something that comes up. ---
**Author:** ![Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f6c823/32.png) [@Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lo-Slung_Denim)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/17 "2015-06-30T07:10:24Z")
Well, I’m 33. So, 33. ---
**Author:** ![katpohl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b782af/32.png) [@katpohl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/katpohl)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/18 "2015-06-30T07:39:54Z")
Around the age of 9 or 10 I think . It was a while later that I figured out that the 'stubborn as an ole mule ’ that my grandmother compared my grand dad to , and the ‘hard headed jackass’ that my grand dad would sometimes compare one of us kids to , were one and the same . ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/19 "2015-06-30T09:04:17Z")
I don’t know how old I was but I suspect I learned it via Marguerite Henry. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847/20 "2015-06-30T10:51:42Z")
Somewhere between 8 & 10. As a horse crazy kid I read everything horse related I could get my hands on. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-when-you-found-out-mules-were-sterile-hybrids/723847.md?page=2)