Meet the kunga – a donkey/wild ass hybrid that served ‘nobility and gods’ 4,500 years ago, and was a result of ‘early bioengineering’ in Mesopotamia
A new DNA-sequencing study reveals the origins of the kunga, a large, strong animal that was a cross between a donkey mother and a Syrian wild ass father. Historically, kungas were the first animals to be bioengineered by humans.
The Syrian wild ass did not make it to the modern ages, as it was “the smallest of all modern equids until the subspecies went extinct early in the 20th century”. Syrian wild asses were captured and kept in captivity, the New York Times notes, even though they were difficult to conquer. Eva-Maria Geigl, a specialist in ancient genomes at the University of Paris, and one of the scientists who carried out the study,that the director of a zoo in Austria, where the last captive Syrian wild asses died, described them as “furious”.
Dr Geigl says the breeding of kungas was really “early bioengineering” that developed into a kind of ancient biotech industry.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
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