Delightful Facts To Bray About On World Donkey Day

We’re celebrating World Donkey Day by braying about our favourite facts about delightful donkeys. Plus, learn how our stick on name labels can help your kids to cart their kit around safely.

Our Favourite Facts About Delightful Donkeys

World Donkey Day celebrates the important role donkeys have played in human history and raises awareness about their welfare. To celebrate, we’ve picked our favourite facts about donkeys. Did you know:

• Donkeys descended from the African wild ass. They were domesticated between 5,000-7,000 years ago and are still used as working animals today.
• There are approximately 41 million donkeys worldwide from over 100 different breeds. 96% are working animals.
• Traditionally, donkeys were used as draught or pack animals for transport or agricultural tasks. Donkeys have also been used for threshing (loosing grain from straw), raising water from wells, and powering milling machines.
• Donkeys are excellent livestock guardians. They have a natural dislike of canines (including wolves, coyotes, foxes, and wild dogs) and will both alert their flock to danger and actively pursue and attack predators (usually by kicking or biting).
• They have also been kept as pets, companions for nervous horses, and for riding. In the UK, donkey rides on local beaches have been around since the late 19^th century.
• Donkeys are well adapted to desert environments where temperatures exceed 40°C, resources are scarce, and the terrain is challenging.
• Donkeys can survive on very little water, going up to 3 days without a drink if necessary. They can survive losing 30% of their body weight in water and can rapidly rehydrate by drinking 24-30 litres in 2-5 minutes.
• Donkeys use their ears to regulate their body temperature. Their ears contain lots of blood vessels near the surface so body heat can escape.
• Donkeys have upright, narrow hooves that are dense and resilient. This gives better traction on loose surfaces and allows donkeys to be extremely precise with their hoof placement, which is perfect for navigating dangerous paths.
• Donkeys can digest tough desert vegetation, extracting most of the available nutrients from even the poorest quality of plant material. They have pointed front teeth that can grab and tear vegetation close to the ground. Their large powerful molars can grind tough, fibrous, and woody plants, including straw, dry grass, hay, leaves and twigs, and bark.
• Just like humans, donkeys have a set of baby teeth that are replaced by permanent adult teeth.
• Donkeys have an excellent sense of smell and can detect smells up to 6.2 miles away. When a donkey curls its lips back to expose its teeth (known as a Flehmen response), they are processing a particular smell by pulling air into their vomeronasal organ – an additional organ for smelling.
• The unique bray of a donkey comes from their ability to vocalise both while breathing in (creating the “hee” sound) and breathing out (the “haw”).
• Donkeys have excellent memories with research suggesting they can recall animals, people, and places from over 25 years ago.
• When they sense danger, donkeys freeze to assess the potential threat before deciding how to react. This refusal to move is often misinterpreted as stubbornness.
• Donkeys range from 90cm tall to 150cm tall depending on the breed. The smallest donkey is KneeHi, a Miniature Mediterranean donkey who is 64cm tall. The tallest donkey is Dynamic Derrick, an American Mammoth Jackstock, who is 167cm tall.
• Donkeys form life-long bonds. While they usually bond with another donkey, they also bond with other animals, including goats and sheep. These bonds can last for decades as donkeys can live for up to 50 years.
• An adult male donkey is called a jack, while an adult female donkey is a jenny or jennet. Donkeys can mate with other equines; the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse is a mule, the offspring of a female donkey and a male horse is a hinny, and the offspring of a donkey and a zebra can be called a zenkey, zonkey, zebrass, or zedonk.
• Donkey milk is closer to human milk in terms of its protein, fat, and nutrient content than cow, sheep, and goat milk. Donkey milk has been drunk by humans for thousands of years (largely for medicinal purposes). Today it provides an alternative to cow’s milk for children as around 90% of infants with food allergies can tolerate donkey milk.

Stick On Name Labels To Keep Your Kids’ Kit Safe

Name labels are the easiest way to keep your family’s belongings safe when they’re out and about. Your child can easily check the label to make sure they pick up their own belongings and the label can be used to return items that go missing.

Stick on name labels are the quickest way to label your family’s belongings. You simply peel each label off its backing sheet and apply firmly. We make Stikins® name labels with a unique adhesive that creates super sticky bonds with a wide range of materials and surfaces. This means you can use Stikins® to label pretty much all your kids’ kit – from school uniform to P.E. kit, shoes to bags, lunch boxes to water bottles, and stationery.

Our bright white labels are super tough and durable. We personalise each label with a bold black font that is super clear and easy to read. You can request one or two lines of text with up to 18 characters per line (including spaces). This leaves plenty of room for a name only or for an additional piece of information. This could be a phone number, year or class name, room number, or even a friendly message (like “I Belong To”).

You can order Stikins® online at any time or by phone during office hours. We print orders up to 3pm, Monday to Friday, which means your name labels will be despatched same or next working day. Delivery is free and uses Royal Mail’s first class service.