The Cyprus donkey is the donkey breed of the Mediterranean island of
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
.
[Breed data sheet: Cyprus/Cyprus]
Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed December 2013. There are two principal strains: a large dark-coloured type with a pale belly, probably of European origin; and a small grey African type which represents about 20% of the total population, which in 2002 was estimated at 2200–2700.
The Cypriot donkey was an integral component of rural life from prehistoric times until the 20th century.
Archimandrite Kyprianos in 1788 records that feral donkeys existed in the mountainous regions of
Akamas and
Karpasia.
Some hundreds of Cyprus donkeys live in a
feral
A feral (; ) animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in som ...
state on the
Karpass Peninsula in the Turkish-controlled northern part of Cyprus. They were abandoned there by
Greek Cypriot farmers during the
Turkish invasion in 1974. In 2008, a group of Greek and
Turkish Cypriots
Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( or ; ) are so called ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots are mainly Sunni Muslims. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,000 Turkish settlers were given land onc ...
organized to save the animals from extinction after ten of them were found shot dead.
[ Accessed November 2016.]
References
Mammals of Europe
Donkey breeds originating in Cyprus
Donkey breeds
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