• Question: How come a horse and a donkey reproduce together and make a mule however a mule and a mule can not reproduce more mules??????

    Asked by Abbie' to Daniel, Freya, James, Miranda, Usman on 15 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Usman Bashir

      Usman Bashir answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      That is very smart question. I wish they could! Imagin the new species that would result. Similarly have you heard of a liger? Its a cross between a tiger and lion. Again, two ligers cannot produce another one. But i digress.

      I know that for mules, the reason is to do with the mismatch in the chromosome number between the dad and the mom (horse and donkey :P) resulting in an odd number of chromosomes. They cant produce their sperm or egg unless they have even number of chromosomes. Therefore, they’re sterile.

      I dont care much about mules, but i certainly would love to see ligers roaming the wild.

    • Photo: James Gilbert

      James Gilbert answered on 16 Jun 2015:

      I wish I knew as much about mules as Usman!

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