# Mules

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mules/160970>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 12, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mules/160970 "2003-03-12T23:46:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mules/160970/1 "2003-03-12T23:46:41Z")

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Have equi-asinine sexual relations been going on forever, or were mules “invented” long ago by some enterprising human with a _penchant_ for very odd experiments?

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**Author:** ![ChalkPit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@ChalkPit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChalkPit)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mules/160970/2 "2003-03-12T23:55:58Z")

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This doesnt say anything about when it started, but its better than nothing:  
[Mules](http://www.imh.org/imh/bw/mule.html)

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**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mules/160970/3 "2003-03-12T23:59:02Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by friedo \*  
> Have equi-asinine sexual relations been going on forever, or were mules “invented” long ago by some enterprising human with a _penchant_ for very odd experiments?

I’d vote for going on forever, or at least as long as horses and donkeys have been domesticated and kept together. No very odd experiments are necessary. Horses and donkeys aren’t in the least bit shy or reluctant to interbreed in captivity ( there are behavioral and ecological barriers in the wild, though doubtless it has happened occasionally ). Keep them in the same pen/field and you’re going to get little baby mules.

- Tamerlane

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**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mules/160970/4 "2003-03-13T00:03:31Z")

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And mules get pregnant sometimes. It’s rare, like maybe 3 or 4 times on record, but it happens. It just happened again, I believe I read a blurb about it in the latest _Discover_.