This shaggy race of donkeys from the Poitiers area is very old. These ones live at Château de Villesavin.
Le baudet du Poitou est une race d’ânes très ancienne originaire de l’ouest de la France. Ces spécimens sympathiques habitent au château de Villesavin.
Tongue in cheek. Are you sure that they are not ragondin with their white muzzles?
Well, I thought they were poneys until I showed the photo to Jean Michel and he enlightened me :).
I can’t recall ever seeing that in donkeys here.
There may be some in Quebec 🙂
Those are good looking Poitou asses. Did you know that there are hardly any purebreds left? Most are half-breeds, so they inherit the dreadlocks but not the size. I had no idea until we moved to France that there are dozens of breeds of donkey. Up till then I thought donkeys were donkeys were donkeys.
Yes, I had an exchange on FB about them. Otherwise I would never have known what breed they were. The friend in question is from Poitou and lived in Germany for many years. She says they almost became extinct a few decades ago. There is one at the zoo in Munich, she says, “I used to visit him. Family meeting somehow ;o)” LOL
Great photo of the donkeys. I didn’t know about there being different breeds of donkeys. We have a sanctuary for donkeys here in Ireland and they don’t resemble the ones you have.at all. They are just regular donkeys. 🙂
Thanks. I don’t know if you read Susan’s comment, but I thought dreadlocks was a great description!