Since I decided to begin a systematic enquiry into the Andalusian donkey I am immersed in three different time periods: (1) The 1980s when some people began to notice the Andalusian breed was in danger of extinction; (2) the past twenty years and the changing methodologies of zoo-archaeology and related disciplines; and (3) exploring farming methods in Al Andalus, because here is possibly the real area of new clues about animal husbandry leading to the Andalusian donkey.
As I said to Pepe Selfa, Vice President of ASNOPRA, here on my donkey field in January 2026, I want to do this study for three reasons:
- because I have the time, as a retired geography teacher;
- I have the motivation, with my donkey Matilde, a slightly under-height (at 1.25 m) but nevertheless noble looking burra andaluza, and I want to do my utmost to help preserve her breed of donkeys;
- and an academic track record in interdisciplinary work which this study needs. (My original masters degree at the Central School of Art in London in the 1980s crossed seven different academic disciplines.)
Today, a first-time reader of this blog – and existing respected contributor to discussion on social media of the Andalusian breed – contacted me to say he appreciated these pages, but I should correct the errors about the Andalusian breed that I have put here. That was all.
I was left with some wonderfully mixed thoughts and feelings! All of them positive. There is an audience out there beginning to notice this blog and the Andalusian study I am engaged in. That’s good: I have otherwise had no indication my work is of any interest! Second point: “I should correct the errors about the Andalusian breed” that I have put here. Absolutely I should! (If the message on Facebook had suggested which errors I might address, that would have been even better!) The main point of positive outcome is this: if people can start to contribute to discussion on the comments here, we can begin to develop a dialogue about some of the important missing information.
Between the ancient African wild ass and its domestication in Somalia, Ethiopia, Egypt, etc. and the existing Andalusian donkey breed lies several thousand years of development and animal husbandry. This takes us through the Levant, Mesopotamia, back through north Africa – Carthage, the Phoenicians, the Iberians, etc. – and eventually we must examine the Islamic kingdoms of Al Andalus and their animal husbandry, all spelled out in a vast bibliography of agricultural and technological practices. The study is interdisciplinary. It involves genetics, archaeology, history, geography, art-history, and in its last stage, social and economic change – the disappearance of the Andalusian donkey with technological change and socio-economic change.
