# If you can Mate a Horse and a Donkey to get a mule....

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-can-mate-a-horse-and-a-donkey-to-get-a-mule/181112>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 11, 2003, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-can-mate-a-horse-and-a-donkey-to-get-a-mule/181112 "2003-06-11T14:52:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-can-mate-a-horse-and-a-donkey-to-get-a-mule/181112/1 "2003-06-11T14:52:52Z")

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And a lion and a tiger to make another sterile creature (a liger?), what non-human animal can human’s mate with to produce a similarly made offspring? I would guess Chimps and possibly Gorillas. Has there ever been any evidence of this out in the wild?

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-can-mate-a-horse-and-a-donkey-to-get-a-mule/181112/2 "2003-06-11T14:58:48Z")

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Just because it works with _some_ fairly closely related species, there’s no reason to assume that it should also work for other pairs of species that are separated by the same distance in the taxonomic tree, because taxonomy doesn’t solely (or perhaps even primarily) concern itself with genetic difference/similarity.

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**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-can-mate-a-horse-and-a-donkey-to-get-a-mule/181112/3 "2003-06-11T15:14:26Z")

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I understand what you are saying, but that is not answering what I was trying to ask. I gave examples of species closely related genetically (which also happen to coincide with the species taxonomically) and don’t see why it wouldn’t work with humans too. It is kinda oogy but this board seems to relish in the oogy factor at times. 🙂

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**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-can-mate-a-horse-and-a-donkey-to-get-a-mule/181112/4 "2003-06-11T15:46:21Z")

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Hmm, I now see another thread bumped that I didn’t see before that has better links. The links are [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=64664) and [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=185926). I didn’t include the other thread because it is on the first page still. That’ll learn me not to do a search. Hyuk Hyuk.

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-can-mate-a-horse-and-a-donkey-to-get-a-mule/181112/5 "2003-06-11T16:00:24Z")

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_In general_, matings within a species will result in fertile offspring; matings between two species in the same genus will result in “mules” (in the generic sense – viable but sterile progeny). _Homo sapiens_ is the only living species of genus Homo, and probably the only extant species in its family (Hominidae).

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-can-mate-a-horse-and-a-donkey-to-get-a-mule/181112/6 "2003-06-11T16:05:51Z")

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Since a similar topic is being discussed, I’ll close this thread and direct further comment to the other: [Half-man, half-ape?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=189418)

bibliophage  
moderator GQ