~August Update on the Miracle Mule Baby~
~September Update on the Miracle Mule Baby!
By: Molly Chandezi - Moab, Utah
It has historically been an accepted “fact” that since mules are hybrids, they cannot reproduce. The scientific reason given for their sterility is that horses have 64 chromosomes, donkeys have 62 and their offspring (mules) have 63. Even numbers of chromosomes are required for reproduction.....almost always. Chromosomes are “structures” that serve as storage units for an organism’s DNA. DNA stands for the unpronounceable name of a chemical that tells organisms how to grow. For example it tells the mule’s body how long to make its ears, how to build its brain and to put the skin and hair on the outside of the body. It is theoretically impossible for mules to be sires or dams.
Mule fertility is so rare that the Romans had a saying, “Cum mula peperit” meaning “when a mule foals,” or in modern terms, “when hell freezes over.”
When they were doing research for the recently released book on mules, The Natural Superiority of Mules, John and Sena Hauer tried to find documented cases of molly mules giving birth. There were numerous rumors of mules giving birth in China, Albania, Estonia and other exotic places where DNA testing is not available. For some reason, the Hauers did not uncover information about mollies in Texas and Nebraska that had foals–-more about that later.
The Hauers were excited and very interested when Colorado residents Larry and Laura Amos called on May 3, 2007, to tell them that one of their molly mules, Kate, had given birth to a little male equine. The baby would not technically be a mule (half horse and half donkey) since it would have to be either one-third horse and two-thirds donkey, or two-thirds horse and one-third donkey.
Editor's Correction: The new foal could not be 1/3 horse and 2/3 donkey (or the reverse) as indicated above. Because a mule is one-half horse and one-half donkey, a foal from a mule by a donkey would be 3/4 donkey and 1/4 horse.
John immediately made arrangements to visit the Amos Ranch in order to photograph the mother and baby and take hair from each of them for DNA analysis.
Larry and Laura Amos own Winterhawk Outfitters in Colbran, Colorado. They guide elk hunters, take pack trips, and fishing trips to remote lakes and streams in the Flat Tops Wilderness. They have taught American soldiers the fine art of mule packing for use in Afghanistan and Iraq. (Read more about Winterhawk in The Natural Superiority of Mules.)
KATE
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In their outfitting business, Larry and Laura use about 50 mules and 50 horses for their pack trips. In June of 2006, they bought Kate, an 8-year-old, 15-hand black/brown molly from Randy Pulliam, in Pleasant Plains, Arkansas. Randy had acquired the mule in 2005 at St. Joseph, Missouri. He said she was a very gentle and willing mule. He kept her in a pasture with several other mules, horses and a jack that pasture-breeds his mares in order to produce mule babies. The jack is named Step-and-a-half. The name comes from an injury caused when his foot got hung in a gate when he was a baby. Randy says when Step-and-a-half walks, he picks the injured back foot up much higher than his other feet. He is about 15 hands tall, and 1,000 pounds, is good-natured, and produces good-natured foals. Randy is certain that Step-and-a-half is the sire of Kate’s foal.
Randy said Step-and-a-half will follow a horse mare around the pasture for days, waiting for her to come into heat. He did not see any sign that Step-and-a-half was interested in Kate and it was hard for him to believe it when he heard she had given birth. Neither Randy nor the Amoses had any idea that Kate was destined to make history.
RANDY PULLIAM, his 14-year old daughter, NIKI, and a granddaughter 7-year old LAKEN, with STEP-AND-A-HALF
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The Winterhawk wranglers had packed Kate during the summer of 2006, and said she was a strong and easy going pack mule with a nice disposition. Larry said he was looking for pack mules when he saw an ad in Mules and More magazine. He contacted Randy and bought Kate and seven other mules from him. They were delivered in August of 2006.
Larry said, “I worked Kate all fall, and turned her out in early December in to a pasture by the house, along with about 50 other mules, and 50 horses. At the time, we had two horse mares that were due to have horse babies in the spring. On April 27, at about midnight, I woke up hearing a commotion in the corral. I went out to check, and didn’t see anything unusual, and the horses and mules settled down. At 3 a.m. the horses were whinnying and the mules braying and stirring around. I went out again and looked around and didn’t see anything of concern and went back to bed.”
Larry continued, “I got up at 5:30 a.m., looked out the window, and saw Kate in the pasture with a foal. She and the baby were both worn out from fighting off the other horses and mules. Mares and geldings will sometimes steal babies from their mothers, and john mules may try to kill them. I went out and picked the little fellow up and carried him to the arena. One of the wranglers led the mother. The foal was shaky, but obviously nursing and getting nourishment.” When asked what he thought when he saw Kate with a baby, Larry said, “I thought ‘holy s#%!’”
KATE with her new foal
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Laura Amos said, “When Larry and I looked out the window and first saw Kate standing in the pasture with her baby, they were right in the center of of a group of about 100 horses and mules. I turned to Larry and said, ‘Where did THAT come from?’ There was a definite commotion and Kate was defending the baby. I woke our daughter, Lauren, and we went out to see the momma and her new baby. Lauren skipped school and we looked at our miracle mule all day.”
Laura said that they had a good winter and all of their mules and horses were fat, so they had not noticed that Kate was more than just fat. Laura said, “This is all very exciting, and I hope we can breed Kate back, to a horse this time.” It was left up to Laura and Lauren to name the colt. They couldn’t think of a name they liked that is appropriate for a miracle baby, so they decided to have a “Name Kate’s Baby Contest.” Sue Cole agreed that her magazine, Mules and More, will sponsor the contest. For contest rules see page 11. The winner of the contest will receive a signed copy of Hauer’s book The Natural Superiority of Mules, compliments of Mules and More.
Larry and Laura didn’t know what to do or who they should notify about the unexpected event. They had recently read John’s book, The Natural Superiority of Mules, and decided that because of his obvious love for the long-eared critters, John should be the first to know, and that he could advise them about how rare mule motherhood really is, and what they should do about such an unexpected event taking place right there in their corral.
John and Sena were somewhat dubious. They had heard of several instances of molly mules stealing a mule baby from a horse mare. In some cases, the molly had actually produced nourishing milk for her newly adopted baby. Larry assured them that there were no horse mares in their area that might have given birth to the baby mule. When John got to the Amos ranch and saw the mother and foal and watched as the little one suckled the molly and had white, frothy milk all over his nose, he had no doubt that the almost impossible had happened there on the Amos ranch. He was convinced that Kate was indeed a momma and not just a foster parent.
Larry pointed to a large pasture containing about 100 mules and horses that were all gathered close to the fence watching the activity in the mule mother’s corral. Larry said, “John, do you want to check all of them to see if there is any indication that one of them might be this baby mule’s mother?” John politely declined the offer, being already convinced that Kate was indeed the mother of the long-legged, long-faced, and extra-long-eared baby.
KATE protects her new arrival from the other AMOS stock
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John had to do some research to locate a laboratory that works with equine DNA. The most obvious choice was the University of Kentucky (UK) in Lexington. Breeders of race horses frequently have DNA testing done at UK to prove the identity of the sires of their foals. On May 4 the hair collected from Kate and the baby was sent by express mail to the equine science lab at the University of Kentucky. Two weeks later, after thorough testing, the director of the lab called with the good news that the DNA of Kate matched that of her baby. The tests are extremely accurate, leaving no doubt that the molly mule, Kate, had conceived and given birth.
As further proof of Kate being the mother of the foal, John suggested having a vet draw blood for DNA analysis at a different lab. He also wanted to get a chromosome count for both Kate and her foal. Larry took the pair to Dr. John Harris in Grand Junction, Colorado, where a blood sample was taken from each animal. The blood samples were sent by Dr. Harris to the lab at the University of California at Davis. Again, the DNA analysis showed that Kate is a mother. Additional blood samples will have to be sent to the lab in special vials in order to get chromosome counts for momma and baby. The result of the chromosome analysis will be reported in an upcoming issue of Mules and More.
THE NEW FOAL
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John and Sena were sure that mule owners, veterinarians, animal scientists, geneticists, and researchers throughout the world would be interested in knowing about the rare event. They notified Bill Loftus, the science writer at the University of Idaho. Bill was involved in the mule cloning project sponsored by the University of Idaho and Utah State University that resulted in the first equine clone. Bill is well connected with veterinarians and other equine scientists and their equine publications. (See the cloning story in The Natural Superiority of Mules.) The next contact was with Sue Cole, publisher/editor of Mules and More. Sue expressed her interest in a story and photographs of Kate and her baby for the magazine.
When working on the cloned mule project, Bill Loftus did some research into the history of mules giving birth. Below are two of the stories he found:
THE ALBANIAN
MOLLY’S MISCARRIAGE
In 1994 in Vilan, Albania, where mules are very valuable possessions, it was reported that a mule belonging to Jakup Muzhaqi started braying with pain after working all day in the field. The closest thing to a vet in the village was Shaqyri Cekani who had studied animal medicine for one year. “I thought it had developed colic and gave it an aspirin injection,” Shyqyri recalled. “Then something covered with what looked like white plastic fell to the ground.” A head and legs could be clearly seen. Cekani was certain that it was a premature fetus. “It scared all of us, so we threw it to the dogs.”
Ali Muzhaqui, Cekani’s older brother, decided that the mule had the devil in her stomach and should be destroyed. The town elders worried that the mule’s miscarriage could be a sign from the devil and cause a catastrophe. Most of the 530 villagers wanted to see the evil omen destroyed, but no one would kill the mule for fear of making things even worse. And Jacup, who was an elder, objected to the proposed killing of his only mule and his most valued possession. The mule was worth more than $400 which was ten times the national average yearly earning in Albania....a fortune in that remote village. The mule was spared and Jakup would have liked to sell it, but no one would buy a cursed mule.
The “vet’s” father, Nezir Cekani, said, “We asked the mufti in the mosque of the village over the mountain if the end of the world would come because of the devilish event. The mufti said the earth will end but only after 600 years.”
MOROCCAN
CURSE/BLESSING
On August 27, 2002, “Lalla”, a 60 year old Moroccan farmer made the 20 mile round trip on her 14 year old molly to the souk, the weekly village market. At the souk, Lilla had sold her bag of prickly pear and bought some salt and rice. Although, in accordance with Moroccan culture, the mule had no name, she was Lalla’s most valuable possession. The mule was fit and well muscled from daily work on Lalla’s small farm and from being ridden and carrying Lalla’s produce to market.
At the souk the mule was always left in a large fenced area with hundreds of other mules, horses, donkeys, camels, sheep goats and cattle. This trip to market had been as uneventful for both the woman and her mule as all the other parts of their lives. The following day their lives were changed forever when the little mule gave birth to a cute, long eared colt. Lalla had no reason to suspect that her mule was pregnant. The thought had never entered her mind, and now she was frightened and ashamed. In her culture such an unheard of event was sure to be considered a religious sign and a harbinger of doom. In order to conceal the cause of her anxiety and shame Lalla hid the mule and baby in a small shed.
The news of the miracle birth leaked out and then spread rapidly. Lalla’s shame quickly turned to celebrity as curiosity overcame superstition, and people from other villages came on foot, on mules, on donkeys and on horses to see the good looking foal with the black and white face and extra-long ears. Many of the visitors brought gifts for Lalla, her mule and its baby. The baby looked like a mule with donkey features or a donkey with mule features. Rather than being cursed by the unusual event, Lalla had been blessed when her hard working mule had given her another work animal that she would be able to rely on in the future. She was also the recipient of the recognition and generosity of her neighbors.
Soon after Lalla’s mule gave birth the news reached Dr. Gigi Kay, an equine veterinarian with the Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad (SPANA), a group based in London, England, and dedicated to the care and welfare of working animals in North Africa and Middle Eastern countries. Dr. Kay realized that, if confirmed, the birth would be news of great scientific importance. She quickly arranged to travel to Lalla’s village to see the mule and baby. Dr Kay reported that t he mother and baby were in very good shape. It was her opinion that Lalla’s mule was the birth mother of the foal.
For more information about the good work done on behalf of work animals (mainly mules and donkeys) in third world countries, see SPANA’s web site at www.spana.org. |
The most recent reports of births to mule mammas in this country took place in Texas and Nebraska. In 1923 a molly named Old Beck was reported to have foaled on a farm in Texas. No test was available at the time to prove or refute maternity.
In 1984 Krause, a molly owned by Bill and Oneta Sylvester of Champion, Nebraska, had a mule baby that was named Blue Moon (once in a blue moon) and was bred again and had a second foal that was named White Lightening. (Lightening doesn’t strike the same place twice.) The sire of both babies was a jack named Chester. Krause’s babies were the first case of mule fertility to be scientifically documented. It was determined that both babies had 63 chromosomes and that Krause was indeed the mother.
Since Krause gave birth to her foals, all of the reported cases of mollies giving birth that have been tested have been refuted (until Kate’s delivery.) Some of the reported dams were the actual mothers of the babies but were not mules. These mothers were determined to be mulish looking horses or donkeys. Other “dams” were indeed mules but the foals were not their own babies.....they had either kidnapped or adopted the foal of a horse or donkey.
Colorado Kate has indeed made history.
Food for thought: John poses this question, “Since virtually all male mules are neutered before they have a chance to reproduce and no concerted effort has ever been made to breed mollies to either jacks or horse studs, it is not surprising that no cases of mule paternity and very few of mule maternity have been reported. Could it be that in spite of their odd number of chromosomes mules are not as infertile as has been assumed? “
I need a Name!
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Publisher’s notes: Kates’s delivery of a foal is exciting and of great interest to mule lovers and scientists worldwide. During the next months Mules and More magazine will publish updated photographs and information about Kate and her soon-to-be-named baby.
Visit our Books & Videos page for information regarding how to order a copy of the book, The Natural Superiority of Mules.
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