Baudet du Poitou
A large French donkey breed known for its long coat.
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The Baudet du Poitou is a donkey breed known for its large size and distinctive long, shaggy coat that forms dreadlocks.[1][2] It is considered an endangered breed with fewer than 200 purebred animals remaining worldwide.[2]
Biology and range
The coat was traditionally left ungroomed, forming long shaggy locks that sometimes reached the ground.[3] A Baudet with such an extreme coat was called bourailloux or guenilloux.[3] The genes for this coat type are recessive, so crossbred donkeys do not exhibit it unless they carry the same genes.[3] The Poitou is the largest and hairiest donkey in the world.[1]
The breed originated in the Poitou region of France, where donkeys may have been introduced by the Roman Empire.[4] This breed has large joints and feet, along with robust legs.[5] The Baudet de Poitou and the Poitevin horse were jointly bred to create superior mules.[4]
What the specialist sources record
The American Mammoth Jackstock account notes that the Poitou's long shaggy coat is so dominant that a 1/10th Poitou animal may have as heavy a coat as a purebred.[2] The same source states that the Poitou was one of five breeds incorporated into the development of the American Mammoth jack.[2] Jackstock historians feel the Poitou was used far less in Mammoth production than it should have been.[2] The Poitou was used almost exclusively for mule production in France.[2]
A 2002 BBC News report describes a Poitou embryo created by artificial insemination that was implanted in a mare because the biological mother had leg problems.[1] That foal increased the total number of Poitous in Australia to three.[1]
References
- "Rare donkey's even rarer birth", BBC News, 8 February 2002. facts only, no text reused. news.bbc.co.uk
- Patton, Leah, "American Mammoth Jackstock", North American Saddle Mule Association. facts only, no text reused. nasma.us
- Wikipedia, "Baudet du Poitou" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Legrand, "Two recessive mutations in FGF5 are associated with the long-hair phenotype in donkeys", Genetics Selection Evolution, 2014 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Baudet du Poitou" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Poitou", Oklahoma State University (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Baudet du Poitou" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Poitou", Oklahoma State University; "Poitou Donkey", Action Wildlife Foundation, Inc. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Baudet du Poitou (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Domestic Breeds & Types
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Baudet du Poitou (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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