Donkey Donkey The donkey or ass ("Equus africanus asinus") is a domesticated member of the horse family, Equidae. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African wild ass, "E. africanus". The donkey has been used as a working animal for at least 5000 years. There are more than 40 million donkeys in the world, mostly in underdeveloped countries, where they are used principally as draught or pack animals. Working donkeys are often associated with those living at or below subsistence levels. Small numbers of donkeys are kept for breeding or as pets in developed countries. A male donkey or ass
Australopithecus africanus Australopithecus africanus Australopithecus africanus is an extinct ("fossil") species of the australopithecines, the first of an early ape-form species to be classified as hominin (in 1924). Recently it was dated as living between 3.3 and 2.1 million years ago, or in the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene times; it is debated as being a direct ancestor of modern humans. "A. africanus" was of slender, or gracile, build and has been found only in southern Africa at four sites: Taung (1924), Sterkfontein (1935), Makapansgat (1948) and Gladysvale (1992). Raymond Dart, then the head of the department of anatomy at the University