More Discussions for this daf
1. Inter-breeding 2. Breeding mules 3. Breeding mules
4. Mules
DAF DISCUSSIONS - CHULIN 79

Ed Zaslow asks:

Mules are sterile. Why? The horse and the donkey do not have the same number of chromosomes. So, the mule has an odd number of chromosomes, and a male mule cannot produce viable sperm no matter what it is mated to. According to sources on the net, a female mule can produce offspring if it is mated to a purebred horse or donkey, but not to a mule. Perhaps, Chazal were not aware that mules are sterile? It does not seem so based on the discussion in the Gemara. Correct that it is biblically forbidden to mate a horse to a donkey to begin with, yes? Thanks for your reply.

Ed Zaslow, North Miami Beach

The Kollel replies:

Chazal here are discussing the female mule, of which there are many reported cases of them getting pregnant. If the male with which she mated was a horse, the offspring will have the characteristics of a horse, and if the male with which she mated was a donkey, the offspring will be mules like their mother. The Sugya discusses the possibility of mating these offspring together.

The offspring of a male horse and a female donkey (known as a hinny) is sterile (whether male or female), while the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse (termed a mule) may be fertile if it is female but not if it is male.

It should be noted that when the Sugya discusses the permit to mate mules together, it is not necessarily discussing their procreativity, because the prohibition does not depend on whether they can procreate but rather on the act of mating animals which are Kil'ayim to one another.

Yoel Domb

Ed Zalows comments:

Thank you for your reply.

Apparently, fertile female mules are not common at all. I quote the following from a newspaper article:

""Miracle" is probably an apt description. According to the BBC report, only 60 cases of mules giving birth were recorded from 1527 to 2002, nearly 500 years. In recent times, mules produced a filly in China in 2001 and colts to mules in Morocco in 2002 and Colorado in 2007. However, according to the American Donkey and Mule Society, only one hinny mare has ever been known to give birth, in China in 1981. On the other hand, male mules and hinnies apparently shoot nothing but blanks when it comes to producing offspring."

Read more here: https://www.bnd.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/answer-man/article135296594.html#storylink=cpy

Thank you again for your reply.

Best regards,

Ed Zaslow