Can mules breed?

Question

Someone answers yes....Someone answers No....

You guys are REALLY helpful...

Answer 1

no only 1 in 1000 can breed

Answer 2

No they can't bacause a mule is a cross breed from a horse and a donkey. Horses and donkeys have different numbers of chromosomes in their DNA, and so a mule is usually born with non-functional reproductive organs due to that.

Answer 3

mules cant breed because they have uneven chromosomes donkeys have 62 and horses have 64 mules have 63 chromosomes. a mules got 32 chromosomes from the horse part and 31 from the donkey half so the chromosomes they got from mom and dad are so close in identity it makes breeding almost impossible. but a couple years ago a mule did have a baby so it not completely impossible. hope this helps

Answer 4

they rarely can.. on 60 breedings since the 16th century have been recorded.

Answer 5

male can not cause they are born sterile.  a mule is actually a cross between a donkey and a horse

Answer 6

They go through the motion but are generally sterile.  One in about every 10,000 females however can have a foal when crossed back to a horse.

So yes they can breed.  They can not reproduce.

Kim virtually all male calico cats die shortly after birth.  At one time there was a $10,000.00 reward for a male calico cat, but that was 35 years ago so I do not know if anyone is still looking for them but they probably are.  They want to create a calico cat breed.

Answer 7

Mules are born sterile.  So the answer is no. They are unable to reproduce any kind of offspring. Again, dont question me on the bioology of it all i know is the genetics dont allow for reproduction in mules.

Answer 8

HAHA, yeah, its hard to get the correct answer then, huh?

Well, here's how it works.  A horse and donkey are two different species, so when you breed them you get a sterile hybrid.  Its the same if you breed a horse and a zebra or a donkey and a zebra.  They are in the same genus and family, but not species type, so there are small differences in their genetic makeup.

All the sterile crosses are things like mules, hinnys, zorse, etc.

Answer 9

yes

Answer 10

Realisticly no,  as most mules are sterile due to some chromasonal mis matches.  However.  About 1 in 1000 mules is indeed fertile and can breed.  In 1983, in texas a mare was bred by a mule and had twins.  One was a mule colt, the other a horse filly..  A very rare thing indeed.

Answer 11

Mules CAN breed but are most often sterile so no baby results.  

Male mules should be gelded or they will act studish.

Answer 12

no

Answer 13

Mules are sterile and unable to produce.

Answer 14

Mules can and have bred AND reproduced.  There is record of at least one mule whose off-spring also bred and produced viable progeny.

"DNA tests have confirmed that a Moroccan mule did give birth to a foal.

Veterinary experts say the foal's father was a donkey and its mother a true mule.

The foal inherited a mixture of horse and donkey chromosomes via the mother's ovum

Gigi Kay, Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad  

The discovery defies scientific wisdom because mules are supposed to be sterile."

This is just one instance.

"Several female mules have produced offspring when mated with a purebred horse or donkey. Since 1527 there have been more than 60 documented cases of foals born to female mules around the world. It must be noted that there are no recorded cases of fertile mule stallions. Mules and hinnies have 63 chromosomes that are a mixture of one from each parent. The different structure and number usually prevents the chromosomes from pairing up properly and creating successful embryos. In most fertile mule mares, the mare passes on a complete set of her maternal genes (i.e., from her horse/pony mother) to the foal; a female mule bred to a horse will therefore produce a 100% horse foal. Some examples of recorded fertile mules include:

Cornevin and Lesbre stated that in 1873 an Arab mule in Africa was bred to a stallion and produced female offspring. The parents and the offspring were sent to the Jardin d'Acclimatation in Paris. The mule produced a second female offspring sired by the same stallion and then two male offspring, one sired by a donkey and the other by a stallion. The female progeny were fertile, but their offspring were feeble and died at birth.

Cossar Ewart recorded an Indian case in which a female mule gave birth to a male colt.

The best documented fertile mule mare was "Krause" who produced two male offspring when bred back to her own sire (biological father).

In the 1920s, "Old Beck", a mare mule at Texas A&M, produced a mule daughter called "Kit". When Old Beck was bred to a horse stallion she produced a horse son (i.e., the horse stallion sired horse foals). When bred to a donkey, she produced mule offspring.

Likewise, a mare mule in Brazil has produced two 100% horse sons sired by a horse stallion.

In Morocco, a mare mule produced a male foal that was 75% donkey and 25% horse, i.e., she passed on a mixture of genes instead of passing on her maternal chromosomes in the expected way.

There is an unverified case of a mare mule that produced a mule daughter. The daughter was also fertile and produced a horse-like foal with some mule traits; this was dubbed a "hule". There are no reports as to whether the mule was fertile.

A comparable case is that of a fertile hinny (donkey mother, horse sire - the reverse of a mule) in China. Her offspring, named "Dragon Foal", was sired by a donkey. Scientists expected a donkey foal if the mother had passed on her maternal chromosomes in the same way as a mule. However, Dragon Foal resembles a strange donkey with mule-like features. Her chromosomes and DNA tests confirm that she is a previously undocumented combination."

Answer 15

It is VERY rare, but occasionaly a mule is born with the ability to breed.  In general they are sterile because of the mix of genes.

Answer 16

iv been told that they can't breed but iv been told that a male calico is almost impossible then one of my cats gave birth to one then i read up on if you have a male calico cat you cant breed or that it is rare and then he got one of are cats pregnant and i no it was him that got her pregnant all kittens were calico and there were no other male cats around

Answer 17

NO!!

When a donkey and a horse get together, they produce a mule. The mule, though, is sterile—it cannot have or make new mules.

Answer 18

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/natur...