Basics Characteristics of the Digestive Tract of Donkeys

The domestic donkey (Equus asinus L. 1758) originates from a wild ancestor in the region of East Africa, specifically Somalia and Nubia. The donkey belongs to the large family of equids (Equidae), which includes horses and zebras in addition to donkeys. To better understand the specifics of donkey nutrition, it is necessary to be familiar with the basic characteristics of the donkey’s digestive tract. As with other animals, the digestive tract of donkeys begins with the oral cavity and ends at the anal opening. Ungulates, including the donkey, do not belong to the group of animals that do not chew their food like ruminants. However, the food introduced into the oral cavity is crushed to the required and desired sizes of individual parts. The esophagus is a conduit tube that connects the oral cavity to the stomach. A donkey has a simple stomach (ventriculus simplex). After the stomach, the food, now quite changed in relation to the one from which a bite was made and entered the esophagus, continues its journey into the small intestine. As a monogastric animal, the donkey has a well-developed cecum. After the processes in the cecum are completed, the contents are pushed into the next part of the large intestine—the first section of the colon. Anatomically, the caudal end of the digestive tract is represented by the anus.