Our Donkeys---Esseklerimiz (text of a high-school video documentary) "Cyprian donkeys and mules are most leisurely in their habits, and have a wonderful aptitude for patiently awaiting their masters. They will stand for hours at a time without stirring from the same yard or two of shade, their heads turned towards the sun, so that with the least possible exertion of their nether quarters they keep constantly in shadow as the sun goes round." As Mr John Thomson, a British photographer who visited Cyprus in the autumn of 1878, observed, the Cyprus donkey is famous for its loyalty, patience, great load-carrying capacity and size. The donkey has been a Cypriot villager's best friend for centuries, practically it was the sole means of transportation, it was used for drawing water out of the wells and played an important role in a farmer's life. The export of mules and donkeys formed a considerable fraction of the annual exports of the country. Remains of an ass who freed himself from the yoke and was buried alive in one of the tombs in Enkomi was discovered. The ass was most probably used by the workers building the tomb in the 7th Century BC. You can still come across donkey-carts and villagers riding their donkeys while you are passing by in your modern car. It still has not completely lost its place to modern vehicles. Donkeys which have originated as two types; the Somalian Donkey (Equus Africanus) and the Nubian Donkey (Equus Asinus). The Nubian donkey is believed to be the ancestor of the domestic donkey. It is believed that donkeys spread gradually from North Africa to Greece, Italy and Spain and then to further northern countries of Europe. It is known that donkeys were domesticated before horses and the first animals to be harnessed were donkeys. The origin of the Cyprus donkey is not exactly known. No fossils belonging to the pre-settlement era of Cyprus have so far been found which strengthens the belief that donkeys were brought to Cyprus from abroad as domestic animals though no specific evidence about the dates has yet been found. Another belief which is based on the fact that the Cyprus donkey has some peculiar physical characteristics, is that it went through some sort of evolution on the island. The oldest record we have found about wild donkeys is that of Sir Samuel White Baker, an English traveler and explorer, who wrote a book named 'Cyprus As I Saw It in 1879'. In his book Baker wrote that during a visit to the region of Karpas he observed wild donkeys wandering around in groups on the mountains. During our visits to the Karpas Peninsula we met a Greek Cypriot living in Apostolos Andreas Monastry around which most of the wild donkey population lives who told us that the number of wild donkeys increased after 1974 when most of the Greek Cypriots left the area leaving behind their domestic animals. From him we also learned that in winter the villagers used to bring their donkeys to the monastry and let them free as they did not need them and did not have enough food to feed them. Then in summer when they needed donkeys in their farms they used to catch and domesticate them once again. When we asked him how they managed to achieve this, he said that using the experience of hundreds of years the Cypriot villager had developed a technique for domestication. The region around the monastry was a natural habitation area for the donkeys so when they were let free they easily got used to wild life. As we know Karpas is an agricultural area. From time to time when food is scarce donkeys wander into the fields causing a lot of damage to the crops and the fields which annoys the villagers leading them to search for some precautions against these donkeys. They even thought of killing and poisoning them. Then the government decided to take some serious precautions in order to protect both the farmers and the donkeys. They planned to use some special techniques to catch and domesticate them. This special technique included some methods which might lead to the extinction of the donkeys in the wild. Our findings have so far led us to a rare and important fact which has in some way explained the existence of the donkey in the wild in Cyprus. The natural build up of the Karpas region provided the adequate natural resources for such a survival. The dense natural vegetation cover which is mainly of maquis type provided both shelter and food for donkeys to survive. During our expeditions to the region we saw that the donkeys lived in dense maquis areas where they had formed complex pathway networks including such parts that through which even we, human beings, who are relatively smaller than the donkeys find it difficult to pass. Along these paths we saw coves under bushes and shrubs most probably used as shelters by the donkeys. We tried following the donkeys in these networks using the products of their excretion which formed small heaps in the paths!! As you may remember the region was closed for outsiders for a long time after 1974 so the donkeys had the chance of living and breeding in peace. What types of social habits would donkeys show if they were living without the control and supervision of human beings? Would they form a kind of community? These were some of the questions which confused professor of ethnology Beat Tschanz and his friends in Bern University. They set up an environment suitable for donkey life which may act as a kind of natural habitation area with almost no intervention of humans. Between 1982 and 1987 they observed their social life. They obtained the following results: The donkey family consists of a mother and two or three offsprings and this forms the basic unit of a small donkey community. Generally, all females are under the supervision of a certain male. The female looks after the offsprings and the males do not show much paternal habits. Their main role in the group is its protection. During mating season a male donkey considers the other males of the group as his rivals and has to succeed in any possible fight in order to protect his position in the group. When a male is one or two years old he leaves the group in search of a female from other groups. When he finds one he joins her group and waits until he is three or four years old when he becomes socially adult to gain a position in the group. But the females have more stronger relationships with their mother and groups. They become socially adult when they first give birth to an offspring. Although we have not made a detailed scientific study of the wild donkey of Karpas, we have noted that they live in small groups and we believe that they have a similar social life as that which professor Tschanz studied. We are so pleased to note that there are some people who are concerned about their environment and some organisations like the Green Peace Organisation of Cyprus, Society for the Protection of Animals have taken an action to preserve the wild donkeys. They managed to show that the donkeys should be left in wildlife and this treasure should be preserved. The region is now declared as a natural wildlife park although this has not yet been completely put into practice. We believe that the Karpas peninsula is not only one of the most attractive areas of the island with endless beaches and rare flora but also the existence of these creatures with beautiful eyes makes the area a rare gem which should attract international scientists and those interested in studying this miraculous natural event- the wild donkey. Camera: Turgut Durduran, Kemal Belevi Text: Cemal Gurkan, Turgut Durduran Narrator: Simten Altan Project Supervisor & Advisor: Mehmet Ali Serak We would like to thank the following persons and organisations for their help and contributions: Mr. Hasim Altan, Director of the National Archives The personnel of National Archives Mr. William Dreghorn Mr. Altay Sayil Mrs. Canan Oztoprak, on behalf of Green Peace Organisation of Cyprus Mr. Ergun Olgun BRTK & Mr Cemal Dermush References: John Thomson, Through Cyprus With the Camera in the Autumn of 1878, 1985 Trigraph Ltd, W. Yorkshire Murat Biricik, Hayvanlar Dunyasi, Essekleri Nasil Bilirsiniz, Cumhuriyet Bilim Teknik, #278, 16 May 1992 Hasmet Gurkan, Yeniduzen, Bir Doga Olayi ve Biz, Tarpanlar Sir J. T. Hutchinson, Handbook of Cyprus 1904, Wild Animals And Sport Meydan Larousse, 1968, Meydan J.P Maule Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture, Cyprus for 1938 V. Karageorghis, Archaeologia Mvndi Cyprus, 1968 Nagel Publ., Geneva Olive Murray Chapman, Across Cyprus Aaron, The Bible Dictionary Vol. I Ergun Olgun, Kuzey Kibris'in Gelecegini Hazirlayan Kaynaklari iyi Bilelim, 5 Mart 1992 Kibris Gazetesi, Ulasim Essekle, 18 May 1993 Sir Samuel White Baker, Cyprus As I Saw It in 1879 Koylerimiz Kentlerimiz, BRTK