According to the literature, donkeys were domesticated in the upper reaches of the Nile in the 4th millennium BC. The donkey skulls that have been found are likely to be those of domesticated animals, but it is difficult to say for sure, as the bones of early domesticated animals cannot be clearly distinguished from those of their wild ancestors. Their ancestors, the African wild asses, lived across vast areas from the Somali Peninsula to Morocco several thousand years ago. It is assumed that all three known subspecies of wild asses contributed to the development of the domestic donkey. The Nubian subspecies was once widespread in Northeast Africa. Its color is reddish or bluish-gray, with a lighter belly and inner legs. The dark backline and shoulder cross are clearly visible. Faint transverse stripes may occur on the legs. It was the smallest of the wild asses, with a height of about 115-120 cm. It became extinct at the beginning of the 20th century. The Somali subspecies lived south of the range of the Nubian subspecies mentioned above. This wild ass is stronger in build than the previous one, larger, with a height of about 135-140 cm, more vivid in color, and with more distinct features. The third subspecies is the Atlas wild ass. Very little information is available about this subspecies, which probably became extinct before the beginning of our era. Based on rock paintings and fossils, we know that they were most commonly found in the Atlas Mountains.
The donkey is the only large mammal that has been domesticated in Africa and, as a result, was long used exclusively as a pack animal by peoples living in northern Africa, the Nile Valley, and the Mediterranean coast. It quickly spread to the Arabian Peninsula, Asia Minor, and then to the Mediterranean countries of Europe as a pack animal for merchants on the busy trade routes of the southern Mediterranean coast. In the first centuries AD, it spread to the more northern countries of Europe, mainly through the expansion of the Roman Empire, where it has remained a traditional source of power but a less important economic animal to this day. The donkey did not spread in large numbers during migrations and conquests, but reached more distant regions as a pack animal for individual traders (caravans), travelers, or migrants.
Outside the Mediterranean countries, it only played a significant role in southern France and the Balkan Peninsula, but it had no strategic or tactical importance in the economy. Due to its unilateral use, it did not undergo the same physical development as other domestic animals. This was also due to the fact that donkeys find it more difficult to adapt to the colder and wetter northern climate and forest environment than in their native habitat. Donkey husbandry in its native habitat and in Mediterranean countries is linked to broad social strata, so its use is also varied. They were mostly closely linked to intensive horticulture, fruit growing, and viticulture. Horticulture and viticulture, which mainly took place on small plots of land, did not require the keeping of horses, which were much more demanding and significantly more expensive; donkeys, which were undemanding and inexpensive, were sufficient for occasional transport.
The donkey appeared in the Carpathian Basin at the beginning of our calendar. It arrived in this area in large numbers during the Roman conquests. Bones found in ancient excavations show that the appearance of donkeys has hardly changed in the last two thousand years. Thus, we can rightly assume that the genetic relationship between today's population in Hungary and that of the Roman era is strong, as it was refreshed by a negligible amount of foreign genes in the period leading up to the 19th century. In the last century, in the 1910s, then between the two world wars and in the 1950s, registered female donkeys were mated with imported Italian donkey stallions (Martina Franca, Ragusa, Sicilian). The original purpose of importing stallions was to place larger donkey stallions suitable for mule production at breeding stations. The Italian stallions and their offspring had an impact on a large part of the Hungarian donkey population, and a larger, stronger-boned, but often coarse-built and not without physical defects type developed, which spread in small numbers, mainly in the Southern Great Plain.
Currently, the country's donkey population shows great diversity in appearance. The main reason for this, in addition to earlier imports, is that although almost every settlement used to have donkeys, their numbers were limited to only a few individuals. Thus, at the national level, relatively many donkeys had few offspring and formed a heterogeneous population.
The Hungarian Donkey became a state-recognized donkey breed in Hungary in 2004. Previously, there was no general, uniform breed name for the donkeys that had been living in Hungary for a long time.
