#WorldDonkeyDay
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World Donkey Day
Visit a petting zoo, or simply do some research into the underappreciated, stalwart, useful and intelligent beasts of burden known as donkeys.
World Donkey Day is a show of respect for one of the most enduring and respectable animals in the Equidae family. Throughout history, it has served throughout the world as both a mount and a beast of burden in some of the most challenging terrains and forbidding climates, and has done so with pride and endurance. It’s unsurprising that these beasts’ success is due in part to their stubborn nature, and World Donkey Day honors them for this along with their other, perhaps more laudable, traits.
History of World Donkey Day
Two subspecies of the donkey, the Somalian and the Nubian, were bred together to produce what we think of as the modern Donkey. Available evidence points to the Donkey having been working alongside humanity since 4000 BCE, most likely in Nubia, as a more versatile and resilient pack animal than the ox they were presently using. Since then they have been bred and transplanted all over the world as cultures moved, and the world expanded, and can now be found just about everywhere.
They’re also the progenitors of the sterile mule, a cross-breeding of horse and donkey that results in a breed with the strengths of both. Sadly mules are almost entirely sterile, and the exceptions so rare that no breeding stock of pure mules has ever been able to be achieved, in part due to there having yet to be recorded a case of a breedable mule stallion. Strangely, there have been cases where female mules have birthed what are, for all appearances, pure horses when bred with a horse.
Without the help of donkeys, it is hard to imagine that the modern world could ever have come into existence. These hardy pack animals provided civilization with the motive energy needed to generate wealth, well before the advent of steam power or electricity. For that reason, many people consider donkeys just as fundamental to our society as writing, pottery, and metallurgy.
World Donkey Day is all about celebrating their stoic spirit and individual charm. These creatures aren’t afraid of a hard day’s work. In fact, they more or less invented the concept. Donkeys pull carts, operate mills, and carry cargo for miles and miles, well after other species would have given up. For that reason, they have a special place in our hearts. They’re willing to put in the effort (for no pay) all to serve us – their grateful human masters.
World Donkey Day is the brainchild of Raziq Ark, a scientist whose interests primarily concern desert animals. Around ten years ago, he noticed that nobody was celebrating the humble donkey for its efforts in helping people all over the world improve their quality of life. In recognition of all this hard work, he set up a Facebook group, chronicling the trials and tribulations of the species all over the world. Eventually, the idea to set up a World Donkey Day emerged in 2018, and we’ve been celebrating it ever since.
The concept drew widespread attention in the media. The Daily Express, for instance, ran an article covering ten facts that people don’t know about donkeys. Did you know that a female donkey is called a Jenny? Ark also has thousands of followers on his Facebook page, all showing their support for this amazing creature.
Donkeys have played an essential part in human history. Ark says that they are a “precious genetic resource and a great gift of nature.” You can’t get higher praise than that!
How to celebrate World Donkey Day
The best way to celebrate World Donkey Day, depending on where you are, is merely to research these incredible beasts and the role they had to play in the world. If you’re somewhere you can take a Donkey Ride tour like the Grand Canyon or tours of certain abandoned mines then that’s an even better way to become acquainted with these adorable long-eared equines. World Donkey Day reminds us that we owe a large part of our success on this planet to these fellow travelers on the starship Earth.
There are plenty of other ways that you can show your support to donkeys all over the world and improve their wellbeing. Many of them are in constant pain and need attention fast. Often their owners are too poor to pay for a veterinarian, so it falls to the rest of us to take up the slack. Donating to a donkey charity, therefore, is a great way to show your support for these fabulous creatures directly. Currently, there are a handful of nonprofits working hard all over the world to deliver medical attention to neglected and abused animals. These charities use donated money to provide much-needed treatment to donkeys in their hour of need.
Donkey abandonment is another major issue. Many owners will dump their donkeys at the side of the road if they can no longer afford to take care of them. The animal must then scavenge for food to survive. Giving to a donkey charity, therefore, can provide these victims with shelter where they can live in safety and peace.
Donkeys are beautiful, but neglected creatures. World Donkey Day is a chance for everyone who cares about these animals to highlight their plight and do something practical about it. Are you in?
Source
#World Donkey Day#WorldDonkeyDay#8 May#begging burros#wild donkey#Custer State Park#I love Custer State Park#one of my favorite parks#travel#summer 2019#South Dakota#wildlife#wildflower#meadow#flora#fauna#nature#landscape#countryside#tourist attraction#landmark#original photography#Black Hills#USA#animal#vacation#Oatman#Arizona#2014#cityscape
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World Donkey Day Messages and Quotes
Wish everyone around you on this day with World Donkey Day messages and wishes to share. Post the World Donkey Day status, quotes and sayings on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram in order to make this day a wonderful day of celebration.
#DonkeyDay#DonkeyDayQuotes#DonkeyDayMessages#WorldDonkeyDay#DonkeyDayStatusGreetings#DonkeyDayWishes
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New on the blog for #WorldDonkeyDay:
ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for World Donkey Day: The art of making an ass of yourself in Ancient Greece
🫏
more photos and info on the blog!
#animals in art#animal holiday#ancient art#Greek art#animal effigy#effigy vessel#drinking vessel#rhyton#rhyta#blog post#World Donkey Day#donkey#donkeys#Ancient Greece#Dionysus#animals in Greek mythology
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Mark #WorldDonkeyday . I will feature your published/unpublished poetry/short prose/artworks about donkeys. Please include a short third person bio.
Trewassick – Pet Blessing
There we were
in the garden noticing
told to take time
instructed to listen
with a few moments
utter silence
until the far donkey
commented in his comedic way
voice like none other, squeak and bray.
With wind whispering
through the oakleaves
and middle of September sun
caressing our backs
indulgent joy came
stealing in, spilling
down in little thuds
with countless…
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"Had I loved him any less - one-ounce less - he would be with me now! My love for him was the only thing that could enable me to break my own heart." - A birth mother I am absolutely blown away at the courage required to be a birth mother. I am in awe of you! Today is also
#IrisDay#BellydanceDay#FreeTradeDay#FairTradeDay#BuckfastDay#OvarianCancerDay#WorldDonkeyDay#TrainDay#NoSocksDay#WindmillDay#wendyswisdoms#thismakesmehappy#fundays#BirthMotherDay
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Today's #WorldDonkeyDay, which is possibly our favourite date of the year at the farm. Crackerjack and Gypsie-rose are resting in preparation for this weekend's wedding shenanigans, after a long day of being treated extra-special by Team Wellbeing. ❤️⠀ ⠀ 📸: @shot_by_amy⠀ ⠀ #weddingvenue #wedding #bolton #manchester #engaged #2019bride #2020bride #bride #thewellbeingfarm #weddingplanning #lancashireweddingvenue #barnwedding #rusticwedding ⠀ http://bit.ly/2VkK7ts
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Happy #WorldDonkeyDay 🫏!
Benno Adam (German, 1812–1892)
Esel im Stall, 1861
oil on canvas, 71 x 91 cm
#animals in art#animal holiday#european art#19th century art#German art#Benno Adam#donkey#donkeys#painting#oil painting#trio#World Donkey Day#livestock#domesticated animals
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Happy #WorldDonkeyDay 🫏!
Joan Miró (Catalan Spanish, 1893-1983)
The Vegetable Garden with Donkey, 1918
oil on canvas, 64 x 70 cm
Moderna Museet NM6078
#animals in art#animal holiday#european art#20th century art#1910s#Joan Miro#Spanish art#Catalan art#modern art#painting#oil painting#Moderna Museet#donkey#World Donkey Day#domesticated animals#livestock
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Happy #WorldDonkeyDay 🫏!
Franz Marc (German, 1880–1916)
Donkey Frieze, 1911
oil on canvas, H 81 cm (31.8 in) x W 150 cm (59 in)
#animals in art#animal holiday#european art#20th century art#donkey#World Donkey Day#Franz Marc#expressionism#German expressionism#1910s#painting#oil painting#donkeys#modern art#German art#domesticated animals#livestock
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#BookRecommendations for #WorldDonkeyDay 🫏:
Donkey (Animal series) (2011)
"Though donkeys have historically been among our most useful domesticated animals—from plowing fields to navigating difficult terrain—they have been much maligned in popular culture and given very little respect. So much so, that their perceived qualities of stupidity and stubbornness have made their way into the language of insult. But in Donkey, Jill Bough champions this humble creature, proving that after 10,000 years of domestication, this incredibly hard-working animal deserves our appreciation.
Bough reveals the animal’s historic significance in Ancient Egypt, where it was once highly regarded—even worshipped. However, this elevated status did not endure in Ancient Greece and Rome, where donkeys were denigrated, ridiculed, and abused. Since that time, donkeys have continued to be associated with the poorest and most marginalized in human societies. All that time and all over the world, donkeys continue to be used for innumerable tasks, and even today, donkeys are considered to be one of the best draught animals in developing nations, where they continue to make a vital contribution. Bough rounds out her account with a look at the variety of social, cultural, and religious meanings that donkeys have embodied, especially in literature and art.
With accounts that are both fascinating and touching, this cultural history of the donkey will inspire a new respect and admiration for this essential creature."
Introducing the Medieval Ass (Medieval Animals series) (2020)
"Introducing the Medieval Ass presents a lucid, accessible, and comprehensive picture of the enormous socioeconomic and cultural significance of the ass, or donkey, in the Middle Ages and beyond. In medieval times, the ass was a vital, utilitarian beast of burden, rather like ubiquitous white delivery vans today. At the same time, however, the ass had a rich, paradoxical reputation. Its hard work was praised but its obstinacy condemned. It exemplified the good Christian, humbly bearing Christ to Jerusalem, but also represented sloth, a mortal sin. It had a potent sexual reputation—in one literary work, an ass had sex with a woman—even as it was simultaneously linked to sterility. Over time, the ass also became synonymous with human idiocy, a comic figure representing foolish peasants, students too dull to learn, and their asinine teachers. This trope of foolishness was so prevalent that by the eighteenth century the word “ass” began to be replaced by “donkey.” Introducing the Medieval Ass offers a wide-ranging account of the importance, and often surprising cultural prevalence, of this common domesticated animal."
#animals in art#animal holiday#donkey#donkeys#World Donkey Day#medieval art#medieval animals#livestock#domesticated animals#animal history#book recommendation#Amazon Associates
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World Donkey Day
Visit a petting zoo, or simply do some research into the underappreciated, stalwart, useful and intelligent beasts of burden known as donkeys.
World Donkey Day is a show of respect for one of the most enduring and respectable animals in the Equidae family. Throughout history, it has served throughout the world as both a mount and a beast of burden in some of the most challenging terrains and forbidding climates, and has done so with pride and endurance. It’s unsurprising that these beasts’ success is due in part to their stubborn nature, and World Donkey Day honors them for this along with their other, perhaps more laudable, traits.
History of World Donkey Day
Two subspecies of the donkey, the Somalian and the Nubian, were bred together to produce what we think of as the modern Donkey. Available evidence points to the Donkey having been working alongside humanity since 4000 BCE, most likely in Nubia, as a more versatile and resilient pack animal than the ox they were presently using. Since then they have been bred and transplanted all over the world as cultures moved, and the world expanded, and can now be found just about everywhere.
They’re also the progenitors of the sterile mule, a cross-breeding of horse and donkey that results in a breed with the strengths of both. Sadly mules are almost entirely sterile, and the exceptions so rare that no breeding stock of pure mules has ever been able to be achieved, in part due to there having yet to be recorded a case of a breedable mule stallion. Strangely, there have been cases where female mules have birthed what are, for all appearances, pure horses when bred with a horse.
Without the help of donkeys, it is hard to imagine that the modern world could ever have come into existence. These hardy pack animals provided civilization with the motive energy needed to generate wealth, well before the advent of steam power or electricity. For that reason, many people consider donkeys just as fundamental to our society as writing, pottery, and metallurgy.
World Donkey Day is all about celebrating their stoic spirit and individual charm. These creatures aren’t afraid of a hard day’s work. In fact, they more or less invented the concept. Donkeys pull carts, operate mills, and carry cargo for miles and miles, well after other species would have given up. For that reason, they have a special place in our hearts. They’re willing to put in the effort (for no pay) all to serve us – their grateful human masters.
World Donkey Day is the brainchild of Raziq Ark, a scientist whose interests primarily concern desert animals. Around ten years ago, he noticed that nobody was celebrating the humble donkey for its efforts in helping people all over the world improve their quality of life. In recognition of all this hard work, he set up a Facebook group, chronicling the trials and tribulations of the species all over the world. Eventually, the idea to set up a World Donkey Day emerged in 2018, and we’ve been celebrating it ever since.
The concept drew widespread attention in the media. The Daily Express, for instance, ran an article covering ten facts that people don’t know about donkeys. Did you know that a female donkey is called a Jenny? Ark also has thousands of followers on his Facebook page, all showing their support for this amazing creature.
Donkeys have played an essential part in human history. Ark says that they are a “precious genetic resource and a great gift of nature.” You can’t get higher praise than that!
How to celebrate World Donkey Day
The best way to celebrate World Donkey Day, depending on where you are, is merely to research these incredible beasts and the role they had to play in the world. If you’re somewhere you can take a Donkey Ride tour like the Grand Canyon or tours of certain abandoned mines then that’s an even better way to become acquainted with these adorable long-eared equines. World Donkey Day reminds us that we owe a large part of our success on this planet to these fellow travelers on the starship Earth.
There are plenty of other ways that you can show your support to donkeys all over the world and improve their wellbeing. Many of them are in constant pain and need attention fast. Often their owners are too poor to pay for a veterinarian, so it falls to the rest of us to take up the slack. Donating to a donkey charity, therefore, is a great way to show your support for these fabulous creatures directly. Currently, there are a handful of nonprofits working hard all over the world to deliver medical attention to neglected and abused animals. These charities use donated money to provide much-needed treatment to donkeys in their hour of need.
Donkey abandonment is another major issue. Many owners will dump their donkeys at the side of the road if they can no longer afford to take care of them. The animal must then scavenge for food to survive. Giving to a donkey charity, therefore, can provide these victims with shelter where they can live in safety and peace.
Donkeys are beautiful, but neglected creatures. World Donkey Day is a chance for everyone who cares about these animals to highlight their plight and do something practical about it. Are you in?
Source
#World Donkey Day#WorldDonkeyDay#8 May#begging burros#wild donkey#Custer State Park#I love Custer State Park#one of my favorite parks#travel#summer 2019#South Dakota#wildlife#wildflower#meadow#flora#fauna#nature#landscape#countryside#tourist attraction#landmark#original photography#Black Hills#USA#animal
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World Donkey Day
When fishes flew, and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.
World Donkey Day is a show of respect for one of the most enduring and respectable animals in the Equidae family. Throughout history, it has served throughout the world as both a mount and a beast of burden in some of the most challenging terrains and forbidding climates, and has done so with pride and endurance. It’s unsurprising that these beasts success is due in part to their stubborn nature, and World Donkey Day honors them for this along with their other, perhaps more laudable, traits
History of World Donkey Day
Two subspecies of the donkey, the Somalian and the Nubian, were bred together to produce what we think of as the modern Donkey. Available evidence points to the Donkey having been working alongside humanity since 4000 BCE, most likely in Nubia, as a more versatile and resilient pack animal than the ox they were presently using. Since then they have been bred and transplanted all over the world as cultures moved, and the world expanded, and can now be found just about everywhere.
They’re also the progenitors of the sterile mule, a cross-breeding of horse and donkey that results in a breed with the strengths of both. Sadly mules are almost entirely sterile, and the exceptions so rare that no breeding stock of pure mules has ever been able to be achieved, in part due to there having yet to be recorded a case of a breedable mule stallion. Strangely, there have been cases where female mules have birthed what are, for all appearances, pure horses when bred with a horse.
Regardless, these animals have played an essential part in human history and are worthy of World Donkey Day celebrating their history and their heritage.
How to celebrate World Donkey Day
The best way to celebrate World Donkey Day, depending on where you are, is merely to research these incredible beasts and the role they had to play in the world. If you’re somewhere you can take a Donkey Ride tour like the Grand Canyon or tours of certain abandoned mines then that’s an even better way to become acquainted with these adorable long-eared equines. World Donkey Day reminds us that we owe a large part of our success on this planet to these fellow travelers on the starship Earth.
Source
#World Donkey Day#WorldDonkeyDay#8 May#burro#Custer State Park#USA#I love Custer State Park#wildlife#wildflower#flora#fauna#travel#Black Hills#upright prairie coneflower#original photography#summer 2019#Oatman#Arizona#South Dakota#2014#cityscape#Route 66#international day#road trip#boardwalk#prairie#grass#tree#tourist attraction
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I was a military wife once. I couldn't cut it. The life of being home with the kids alone for often months on end. I totally sucked at it and walked away from my marriage because of it. So to all of you strong military spouses, I am in complete awe of you and all you endure to stand by them while they protect us. Thank you just doesn't seem enough! Today is also
#ProviderAppreciationDay#StudentNurseDay#CoconutCreamPieDay#HaveACokeDay#IrisDay#FreeTradeDay#PublicGardensDay#OvarianCancerDay#WorldDonkeyDay#NoSocksDay#lunchboxwisdoms#thismakesmehappy#fundays#MilitarySpouseAppreciationDay
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#WorldDonkeyDay I will feature your published/unpublished poetry/short prose/artworks about/featuring donkeys. Please include a short third person bio
#WorldDonkeyDay I will feature your published/unpublished poetry/short prose/artworks about/featuring donkeys. Please include a short third person bio
Saltburn in August
Twenty months ago I last saw the sea,and it was here, on the last day of the year.It’s many more months since I saw it in summer,I can’t remember where.
Today there are sunbathers, surfers and donkeys,the chalets are full. It always seemsto be sunny here, though todayyou can just make out the turbines
at Redcar; Hartlepool’s lighthouse is hidden.I don’t regret coming back…
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