hold me back, I can't go around correcting people about ungulate misidentification all the time
@Satsuma But although not all donkeys do, if an animal looks like a horse, and has a dark line down and its back and down its shoulders in a cross, that's definitely a donkey.
A mule looks like a horse that has been boxing for twenty years. (And ears.)
@Satsuma You probably know what a horse tail looks like, donkeys have a solid tail with a tuft on the end. If you see a donkey with a horse tail, that's a mule.
@Betty yeah i think i can get donkeys and horses but mules are always like *squints suspiciously*
tho maybe i should just start assuming all the weirdos are mules until you correct me otherwise
@Satsuma Like, if you get really into the weeds, the line of their backs is helpful? Like, the wikepedia mule, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule#/media/File:Momo_260905.jpg
You notice how the back is weirdly straight? I say weirdly, because look at a horse
@Satsuma But also, the ears. The length of the ear on a horse should be roughly the size of the space between the ears.
On mules.... you will not be able to make that comparison.
@Satsuma Also, if the horns meet in the middle or look like they're trying to, it's an African buffalo, (not domesticated) not a water buffalo (domesticated.) If you try to get a cape buffalo to plow your field, I'm pretty sure you will die.
@Betty i have seen bison from a near enough distance to be quite sure i would not like to be up close with any animal of its size regardless of domesticity and no amount of delicious buffalo milk cheese will convince me otherwise tbh
@Satsuma I would def. try to pet a water buffalo, but you will not catch me trying to take a selfie with a bison
@Betty yeah they are just wayyy too big for me
@Satsuma honestly, very few non-domestic animals are happy to have me near them, and I don't like making animals unhappy?
But also I want to live.
@Satsuma I saw an ad for a charitable program once that was like "buy a family a water buffalo!" and the picture was of a cape buffalo, and I was like "scam? graphic designer fail? murder attempt?"
@Satsuma this isn't a baby yak, or bison, or whatever people tell you it is, it's a baby muskox, https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFuckingLit/comments/1k31eqg/just_in_case_you_havent_seen_one_before_here_is_a/ and it's maybe the cutest baby ungulate???
Mules vs. Horses vs. Donkeys is a matter of degrees in a lot of characters, so if you're familiar with one it makes sense to say "donkeys have smaller feet" but if you're not, like. Smaller than what???