Question

A horse and a donkey can breed to produce a mule which is an infertile animal. The infertility is because horse and donkey belong to different
A. Class
B. Order
C. Species
D. Genus

Answer 1

Equus ferus caballus is the scientific name of the animal horse and Equus africanus asinus is the scientific name of an animal donkey. These two animals breed to produce an animal called mule which is infertile. They are characterized by their longer life than the horses.

Complete answer: Mules and hinnies are a product of horse and donkey. They consist of a different number of chromosomes. The various structures and the range of chromosomes prevent them from getting paired up properly and hence making an embryo with the most unfertile mules. The infertility of the mule produced by the horse and the donkey is due to the different species of the horse and the donkey they belong to. A mule is an offspring produced by breeding a male donkey (jack) and a female horse (mare). It is stronger than the horse and is more valued due to its size and ground-covering ability. The infertility of the mule is due to the inability to produce eggs and spermatozoa. Therefore, the infertility of the mule is because the horse and donkey belong to different species.
So, option C is the correct option.

Note: The production of the mule is easier than the production of hinny. Hinny is an offspring produced by breeding a female donkey (jenny) and a male horse (stallion). Mules can be referred to as an example of hybrid vigor. Hybrid vigor can be defined as an improvement or increase in the quality of biological functioning of the hybrid offspring produced.