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Donkey Sanctuary Information Sheet

Science - Ourselves

Information Sheet No. 7 – Gestation and life stages of the donkey

Gestation is variable in the donkey.  Healthy, live foals are born ranging from anything between 10 months 2 weeks to 14 months 1 week.  The age of four is regarded as the optimum time for a donkey to be ridden and/or driven, as skeletal growth has finished and at this age the donkey is mentally mature for its serious education to begin. (Just as children start school at four/five years.)

For this reason, it is also inadvisable to allow a donkey mare to be covered (mated) before she is four years old.  The average lifespan for a donkey in Britain is 27 years, although at the Donkey Sanctuary we have many elderly donkeys in their forties.