Eric: There are all kinds of "special" breeds of equines from every
continent on earth. Some of them are very old and have heavy significance
for our understanding of breed interrelationships; others are recent and
relatively trivial; still others "might" be old and "might" have been
significant but have been so much intercrossed with other strains as to
seriously muddy the picture. No matter what the case, however, I do not
think it will be wise for you to extrapolate very far back in time, or to
go on a safari in search of the animal described in the report you quote.

There are a whole series of papers now coming out, driven primarily by Gus
Cothran and his students, on the genetic relationships of various equines.
I don't know that he has a paper specifically on donkeys. However, if you
obtain the following and have a look at them, it should serve to put the
matter in better perspective for you. As it happens I've just been reading
these in some depth this week myself, because I am preparing a review
article for the purpose of comparing Cothran's results with results Bob
Hoffmann and I got in the 1980's from studies of morphology and
zoogeography. If you care to review the latter, the reference is below.

You should also obtain Colin Groves' 1974 book "Horses, Asses, and Zebras
in the Wild" and also scan your univ. library for his subsequent work,
which does deal directly with donkeys.
* * * * * * * *

Bennett, D.K. and R.S. Hoffmann. 1999. Equus caballus Linnaeus 1758.
Mammalian Species no. 628:1-14. (An updated .pdf version of this paper
containing numerous color illustrations can be found by going to
www.equinestudies.org/knowledge_base and clicking on “Mammalian Species”).

Luis, C., R. Juras, M.M. Oom and E. G. Cothran. 2007. Genetic Diversity
and Relationships of Portuguese and Other Horse Breeds Based on Protein
and Microsatellite Loci Variation. Animal Genetics 38:20-27.

Petersen, J.L., J.R. Mickelson, E. Gus Cothran and group. 2013. Genetic
Diversity in the Modern Horse Illustrated from Genome-Wide SNP Data. PloS
ONE 8(1):e54997. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054997

Schoenebeck, J.J. and E.A. Ostrander. 2013. The Genetics of Canine Skull
Shape Variation. Genetics 193:317-325.

Warmuth, V., A. Eriksson, M. A. Bower, J. Canon, Gus Cothran et al. 2011.
European domestic horses originated in two Holocene refugia. PLos ONE
6(3):e18194.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0018194


> Good morning,
>
>
>
> In her PhD-dissertation on late 4th/3rd millennium Saudi Arabia, C.M.
> Piesinger discusses the existence of a special type of donkey. Page 746: .
> al-Hasa has been famous historically for its special breed of fine white
> donkey.[18] -> note 18 on same page: The donkey used [in the Eastern
> Province] is not the common donkey found in all the countries of the
> Middle
> East, but the big while animal bred in large numbers in Hasa and Bahrain,
> very largely used for riding and for transport locally, and in
> considerable
> demand for export to Mecca and elsewhere. It is very hardy, and possesses
> a
> very marked ability to dispense with drinking for long periods . [It] is
> used probably more than the camel for carrying passengers between Hasa and
> 'Oqair or Qatif, the other port through which the oasis [of al-Hasa] is
> supplied, but which necessitates a land journey of 100 miles instead of
> 50.
> They travel faster than the ordinary camel caravan . and can cover the
> distance from Hofuf to 'Oqair in twelve hours" (J.B. Mackie, 1924. Hasa:
> An
> Arabian Oasis. Geographical Journal 63: 193).
>
>
>
> My questions:
> 1) Can anyone tell me if this is an accurate historical fact ?
>
> 2) If so, are there any indications when this may have started?
>
> 3) Could such a type of animal already have existed in the Bronze Age (2nd
> millennium BC? / 3rd millennium BC)?
>
>
>
> Any help and/or views and/or additional information on this topic will be
> highly appreciated.
>
>
>
> Eric Olijdam,
>
> Adriaan Butijnweg 1,
>
> NL-4411 BT Rilland.
>
> The Netherlands.
>
>
>
> Visit my webpage on:
>
>  <http://independent.academia.edu/EricOlijdam>
> http://independent.academia.edu/EricOlijdam
>
>
>
>
>
>