Hinny is easier to obtain when the lower chromosome count, the donkey, is in the male. Therefore breeding for hinnies is more hit-and-miss than breeding for mules." The male hinny or mule can and will mate, but the emission is not fertile. Male hinnies and mules are usually castrated to help control their behavior by eliminating their interest in females. Female hinnies and mules are not customarily spayed, and may or may not go through estrus. Female mules have been known, on rare occasions, to produce offspring when mated to a horse or donkey, although this is extremely uncommon. Since 1527,
Cryptic female choice in which a male's interaction with a female is of detriment to her personal well-being and that of her offspring, one such situation occurs when a male harasses a female prior to copulation. In such circumstances where the female's lifespan and fertility are compromised, it benefits females to develop evasive mechanisms. In addition, in some species where multiple males inseminate a female, a female is able to select the most desirable sperm for her offspring by rejecting that which she desires less. In both of the aforementioned situations it is a female's reproductive actions that affect male reproductive success following