Donkey have worked together with humans for millennia. Traditionally, the scientific name for the donkey is "Equus asinus asinus" based on the principle of priority used for scientific names of animals. However, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature ruled in 2003 that if the domestic species and the wild species are considered subspecies of one another, the scientific name of the wild species has priority, even when that subspecies was described after the domestic subspecies. This means that the proper scientific name for the donkey is "Equus africanus asinus" when it is considered a subspecies, and "Equus asinus" when it is
Equus lambei of the modern wild horse, including the domestic horse, "Equus caballus". Controversy still surrounds "E. lambei" and the divergence of other similar extinct horse species. Through examinations of the bones and teeth of "Equus lambei", many similarities can be seen with the modern horse "Equus caballus". There is also a strong resemblance to "E. lambei" in the metapodials of "E. caballus przewalskii" and the phalanges of "E. caballus lenensis" "." Metrical and morphological studies of horse teeth from the Bluefish Caves confirm the close similarity between "Equus lambei" with wild and domestic horses alive today. "E. lambei" is a "caballus"