Some people believe that the reason why the mule is called a "mule" is because as soon as it is born, its fate is very tragic. The word "mule" consists of the word "horse" and the word "tired", indicating that the mule is born tired, and its birth is a tragedy, because the mule is not a product of nature, it is the result of the hybridization of horses and donkeys.
The mule is also divided into two kinds, the mule is the offspring of the hybridization of the male donkey and the mare, and the donkey mule is the offspring of the hybridization of the stallion and the female donkey, in fact, it is very easy to distinguish, the mother is a horse, is a horse mule, the mother is a donkey, is a donkey mule. In terms of body shape, the difference between the mule and the donkey mule is very large, it is easier to distinguish, the mule is tall, the food is large but the load is heavy, at the same time, the mule is good at running, flexible response, empathetic, and more importantly, the mule skin is good to raise. The donkey mule is slightly inferior to the horse mule.
Because the advantages of the horse mule are too many, it has become a good helper for the working people in ancient times, and it is still the horse mule that people cultivate more. And relatively speaking, the probability of male and female horses producing offspring is much higher than that of male horses and female donkeys.
As we all know, in people's impressions, mules can not give birth, in fact, this concept is not accurate, in very rare cases, the mother mule is still likely to become pregnant. The mule is the result of the hybridization of horses and donkeys, and the chromosomes of horses and donkeys exist in pairs, of which horses have 32 pairs (64) chromosomes, donkeys have 31 pairs (62) chromosomes, and when horses and donkeys cross to produce mules, they provide 32 and 31 chromosomes each, so the mule's chromosomes do not exist in an even number, it has a total of 63 chromosomes, that is, the mule is a triploid organism.
The mule's chromosome, there is always a lonely one, you can say that there is one more chromosome, you can also think that there is one less chromosome. The reason why the mule cannot procreate is because it cannot produce germ cells, that is, it cannot produce the so-called "gamete", the organism's cells in the process of generating gametes, have to go through a meiosis, halving the number of chromosomes in the body, and the mule's cells because the chromosomes are singular, in the process of meiosis, the arrangement and combination will be disordered, so it is impossible to complete the process of meiosis, and naturally it is impossible to generate gametes, that is, the so-called sperm and eggs.
Male mules cannot produce offspring, but this does not mean that the female mule cannot conceive, in rare cases, the female mule is able to conceive and give birth to offspring, but this situation is very rare. The ancients called the offspring of the stallion and the female mule the horse, and the offspring of the male donkey and the female mule, called the horse, and in the ancient mythological records, the donkey was a donkey-like divine beast.
Why did the ancients say that "a mule will die if it is pregnant"?
In fact, this statement is not based, the mother mule and the mare, the female donkey, after pregnancy are able to give birth to offspring, and the mule's physical fitness is higher, not only will not get pregnant and die, but may live a healthier life.
The reason why the ancients said that "mules pregnant must die" may be because the ancients believed that mule pregnancy is an abnormal phenomenon, and there must be demons when things go wrong, perhaps the vast majority of ancients have never seen mules pregnant, and the reason why they say that "mules pregnant must die" is purely unfounded nonsense.