littlegoldfinchh

[littlegoldfinchh]

hey sorry we put your boyfriend on a show where the game changes every time. yeah he has no idea what game he’s about to play. but he’ll be fine once he realizes the only way to win is by learning, the only way to learn is by playing, and the only way to begin is by beginning. yeah actually we’ll be beginning without further ado but you can pick him up after. sorry again.

#it's okay he needed some enrichment anyway

[littlegoldfinchh]

#someone PLEASE put this woman down already #like this is so horrible i have no idea how some people think that she's a good artist #like dhrhsjs this is rancid

[littlegoldfinchh]

supporting the lgbtq community by having bruises in the colors of the rainbow throughout my entire body

#but mainly my right leg?? i just counted i have 4 bruises on my shin alone #like they're huge and very colorful #i have everything from red to purple and yellow and green #and blue too

[littlegoldfinchh]

The other day, I went down the rabbit hole of "cute donkeys" and came up with my head full of things I didn't know about mules (the hybrid offspring of a horse and a donkey), and why they were once so coveted as work animals.

Brace for info dump, while enjoying this lovely photo of a trio of draft mules.

The explanation is hybrid vigour, when hybrid offspring have enhanced traits compared to its parents:

Mules are stronger, hardier, healthier, have better enduranve, harder hooves, sturdier skin and can handle extreme weather better than horses or donkeys. They are also more patient, more intelligent, and easier to handle than either of their parent species. Horses may be faster, but that's about the single thing they're better at than a mule of the same size.

So mules, being all around nicer to work with and getting you more work for the same amount of feed, and with less hassle, were preferred for just about every job purpose.

Habby du Magnou, a Poitevin Mulassier mare, and her daughter Lady du Magnou, a rare Poitevin mule

But since horses have 64 chromosomes and donkeys have 62, mules end up with 63 chromosomes, which means they are almost invariably sterile. That's because biology gets very confused when trying to split an uneven number of chromosomes neatly in half to create germ cells. There are a few documented exceptions of fertile mule mares (never stallions), but they are very, very rare. So you have to keep crossbreeding the two parent species to produce them, usually by breeding a donkey sire (jack) to a horse dam (mare). This is because it's easier for a 32 chromosome egg to incorporate a 31 chromosome sperm into a viable zygote (fertilised egg) than vice versa.

Because of this, there was (and still is) in France a breed of absolutely massive draft horses, the Poitevin Mulassier, and a breed of big-ass donkeys (pun intended, but honestly, it's arguably the largest donkey in the world, and it's shaggy like Highland cattle), the Baudet du Pitou, two breeds whose main purpose was to breed the enormous and super-strong Poitevin mule.

The Poitevin mule

This absolute unit was the must-have work-animal for all kinds of farm and industrial work for centuries, and a significant French export, until mechanisation made these magnificent creatures obsolete.

With no demand for the Poitevin mule , its parent breeds dwindled, almost to the brink of extinction. Determined conservation efforts during the last few decades are slowly bringing their numbers back up, but they're very far from their heyday, when some 20,000 Poitevin mules were born annually.

The Poitevin Mulassier

Both the parent breeds are still endangered, which means most of the current effort is directed into bringing up the numbers of Poitevin horses and Pitou donkeys. This means breeding horses to horses and donkeys to donkeys, with very few breeding opportunities allowed to produce the Poitevin mule. Only about 20 of those are born each year.

The Baudet du Pitou

[littlegoldfinchh]

Mutuals who I have hardly spoken with but we instead communicate through silently liking and reblogging each other's posts... I hope you're all having a lovely day ✨

#min!!!!

[littlegoldfinchh]

We have Video Games by Lana Del Rey at home

#STOP IS THAT REAL bdvgdjjdjdm

[littlegoldfinchh]

Biblically accurate Falin

#dungeon meshi

[littlegoldfinchh]

I know those eyes, following me

#atla

[littlegoldfinchh]

the humble "like" is oft mocked despite what it does for us. "like, three people" is a vastly different statement from "three people". "and i was like 'what the fuck'" is vastly different from "and i said 'what the fuck'". i love you "like" and anyone who says you make people sound stupid will be killed on sight

[littlegoldfinchh]

[littlegoldfinchh]

early concept sketches for trixie!! my lesbian fitness influencer puppy girl 💖💕

#jdjd it's so nice to see my body type drawn cutely!!!!

[littlegoldfinchh]

Ornate axe, Italy, circa 1500

from The Waddesdon Manor Art Collection

[littlegoldfinchh]

Sea monster illustrations by William 巴特尔  Bao

[littlegoldfinchh]

some personal art of mine 🥰 practicing self love! and ! art at the same time! by drawing myself cutely 😌💕

[littlegoldfinchh]

everyone come get your mayo soup

[littlegoldfinchh]

m y dog farted and it's so putrid im dying. it's lingering in the air and i no longer remember what fresh air smells like

[littlegoldfinchh]

well i may not be the prettiest person in the room or the coolest person in the room i think im at least the third funniest