A Dumb Mule

“A dumb mule – if there is such a thing – is smarter than the smartest horse.” So proclaimed one prominently quoted source from the days of yore. A mule is a cross between a male donkey and a female horse, and usually is unable to breed itself because a mule has 62 chromosomes, while a horse has 64 – so when we start experimenting with nature, strange outcomes are sure to result. As one might suspect, crossing the two animals to produce a mule also produces a hybrid sound the animal makes – starts with a whinny and ends with a hee haw.

People apparently found out somehow (amorous animals cooped up too long in the barnyard?) that by combining the power, stamina, and patience of a mule, with the vitality and daring of the horse gave them an animal that outperformed either one separately when it came to hauling heavy loads. Mules generally weigh between 600-900 pounds. Considering all this, mules were the animal of choice to pull the heavily laden freighters of the 1800s, such as the twenty mule team, where 18 mules were hitched up in a long line, followed by two large draft horses. The horses were used in the position closest to the first wagon because of their extra bodyweight, which helped handle the tongue of the wagon better.

The Twenty Mule Team