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[Danarca]

I've been wondering, what is it that makes it possible for mules, donkeys and horses to breed between each other?
Nothing in the RAWs suggest why, so I was just wondering if anyone knew how.
The best I can think of is a hardcoded function picking up creatures names, but that doesn't sound like Toadys style..

[3]

Err... they can't? I'm 99% sure they can't, at least. Mules are sterile (as they are in real life), and seperate creatures cannot interbreed under any circumstances.

If they were able to do so in previous versions (ie 2D), it's likely that was cut for the same reason as all the other cuts: There should be an actual reason for things occuring (ie raw tags) as opposed to things being "hardcoded" and just occuring because it's thought that they should.

[Danarca]

They constantly interbreed in my forts, very noticeable if your 2 starting pack animals are 2 of the mentioned creatures.
Coming to think of it though, maybe they reproduce with the caravan pack animals?

Testing are needed...

[3]

They'll breed with pretty much any animal of the same species and opposite sex that's on the map. It's not called "breeding by spores" for no reason.

[Danarca]

I know
One of the best examples are the story about the human liaison that lived beneath the leaders office and had a child once a year because her husband was one of the caravan guards

[Lancensis]

I know
One of the best examples are the story about the human liaison that lived beneath the leaders office and had a child once a year because her husband was one of the caravan guards

Pathetically, that's probably the most romantic thing I've ever heard.

[Shade-o]

Mules, along with the other domestic animals are of infinite supply regardless of their supposed breeding origins. Mules cannot have children, and cannot be bred from horses and donkeys. However, COMMON_DOMESTIC means that there is always some available from the parent civilisations, as pack animals for traders, pets for migrants, and ordered as a trade good.

[Solara]

Come to think of it I'm honestly surprised we don't occasionally have horses giving birth to mules when donkey's are around - it seems exactly like one of those random details Toady would include.

This thread's kind of given me an idea though. I've been messing around with ideas to cram as many dwarves as possible into a fort before it becomes unplayable, and was seriously considering modding out all cats, cows, and dogs. I was going to leave pack animals alone because I wasn't sure how it would effect caravans, but now I realize I can just keep the mules and maintain perfect control over the population.

[Arrkhal]

Horses and donkeys usually don't get it on, of their own volition.  You need a female donkey in heat, and a male donkey.  Put on some Barry White or something and wait for the male to get in the mood, then put a bag over his head.  Then you lead the female away, and replace her with a mare.

It's a prety cruel practical joke, really.  The donkey takes off the bag, then goes "OMG WTF I coulda sworn she wasn't this enormous last night!  Uh, I'm late for work, gotta go, I'll call you!"

The exception would be if the jack was raised with horses only, and no other donkeys, so he thinks he is a horse.  But then that means you need to pull the bag-on-head trick the other way around, to get him to make baby donkeys!  And he'll have bad self-esteem because of all the short jokes he had to listen to, growing up.

A bigger problem is the mare.  Horses usually really hate donkeys, and you generally need breeding hobbles and stuff just to keep her from killing the donkey.  Or if the mare is raised with donkeys, she'll think she's a donkey and won't have any problem.  But once again, then you need all the bondage gear if you want horse foals, plus the self-esteem problems.

Anyway, mules just don't happen naturally when horses and donkeys are hanging out together.  Mule breeding is a very crazy business.

[deoxy]

I always assumed it just sorta happened.... what's the advantage of a mule over a donkey over OR a horse to make it worth anything remotely like this much trouble?!?  off to wikipedia I go...

[Lancensis]

More tractable than a horse, and stronger than a donkey, I guess.

[Arrkhal]

Mules are pretty good examples of hybrid vigor.  They generally inherit the best traits from each parent (big and obedient like horses, fearless and surefooted, with tougher hooves and digestive system, like donkeys, etc.), and they end up proportionally stronger than either one, with a lot more stamina.  IIRC, a mule can carry about 10% more weight, almost twice as far, as a horse of the same size.  And they eat less.

Getting almost twice as much work out of an animal, for less food going in, is probably worth the trouble.  But the tradeoff is they're neither as big nor as fast as the larger breeds of horse, nor quite as obedient.

They were good enough that the people that used mules extensively usually bred donkeys specifically to be as big and wooly as possible, solely to produce mules.

[deoxy]

Yeah, I read up on that on wikipedia... pretty crazy.

[Zaranthan]

For the record, the perceived stubbornness of animals like mules, donkeys, and oxen, is actually nothing more complex than the animals being smart enough to understand self-preservation. A horse will work itself to death if you keep telling it to go. A mule will stop when it's nearly exhausted. An ox will stop if it SEES dangerous terrain in front of it. (First-hand experience: a pair of oxen refused to walk onto a poorly-maintained boardwalk that was visibly pitted and rotten. The horse team they were following didn't hesitate.)

[Deon]

OK, another DF myth is busted .

I wonder where do you get these.