Daniele Bigi (Italy)
Chairman of RARE Association. RARE (Razze Autoctone a Rischio di Estinzione) is the first
association in Italy, which is involved in the safeguard, recovery and promotion of endangered
Italian native farm animals breeds/populations. RARE was founded in 2002 and it’s a non-profit
organization, with cultural, scientific and environmental approach. RARE promotes educational
activities, collects and spreads information about autochthonous breeds and about their socioeconomical role. It’s a member of SAVE Foundation.
Researcher at the Faculty of Agricultural Science at the University of Bologna. His scientific
activity is mainly addressed to animal genetics and particularly focused on biodiversity studies of
domestic animals.
With regard to feral breeds, he has been involved in a research about the Asinara donkey breed.
This breed originates from the Asinara island, which is located Nord-East of Sardinia.
The 60 km square of this island are covered by Mediterranean vegetation. The island became a
national park in 2002 and for several years the Asinara breed represents a symbol for the island and
this donkey population is considered an important scientific and cultural resource.
The natural vegetation is insufficient to feed the all the donkeys living on the island, therefore
sometimes supplementary feeding is given. The small population size and the high inbreeding
affect negatively the reproductive performances and predispose the animals to erythema and
dermatitis.
The estimated number of donkeys on the island is about 120, plus 40-60 animals reared in ex situ
farms.
Origins: the origins of this breed is uncertain and oral records report the presence of white donkeys
in the island since the end of XIX century. The most likely hypothesis is that the donkeys were
abandoned by the original inhabitants of the island when they were forced to leave because the
island was destined to be a penal colony. Another theory is that the appearance of the white coat in
more recent times is probably due to a random mutation that spread to all the population. Finally it
can’t be excluded that the origins of the Asinara could be more ancient and that the present animals
descend directly from white donkeys imported from Egypt by the Duke of Asinara in 1800.
Morphology: the Asinara donkey is small and the size is similar to the Sardinian donkey; the most
important difference is the white coat, that probably belongs to a form of incomplete albinism.
Height (cm)
Thoracic circumference (cm)
Foreleg circumference (cm)
Males and Females
80-105
100
11-13
Small groups of Asinara donkeys are reared ex situ in Sardinia (Foresta Burgos, Le Priginettes and
Is Arenas) Toscana and Emilia.
A genetic study about Italian donkey breeds, including the Asinara (36 animals reared in ex situ
farms), has been carried out in collaboration with other Italian research groups (Universities of
Bologna, Messina, , Perugia and Piacenza). The results of this research has been accepted by the
journal Animal Genetics [L. Colli, G. Perrotta, R. Negrini, L. Bomba, D. Bigi, P. Zambonelli, A.
Verini Supplizi, L. Liotta and P. Ajmone-Marsan - Detecting population structure and recent
demographic history in endangered livestock breeds: the case of the Italian autochthonous donkeys
(doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2052.2012.02356.x)].
Eight Italian donkey breeds were considered in the study: Asinara (ASI; n = 36), Sardo Grigio
(SAG; n = 36), Amiatino (AMI; n = 48), Ragusano (RAG; n = 40), Grigio Siciliano (GRS; n = 30),
Martina Franca (MAF; n = 31), Romagnolo (ROM; n = 27) and Pantesco (PAN; n = 30). To
evaluate the extant genetic variability of Italian donkeys, we typed 16 microsatellite loci in 258
individuals from these breeds.
Figure 1 – Geographic areas of origin of
the eight Italian native donkeys breeds.
Figure 2 – Asinara donkey – adult female.
Results.
FIS values were statistically significant for almost all breeds, excepted ROM and MAF, and ranged
from 0.081 in AMI to 0.301 in SAG. A FIS value of 0.134 (P<0.001) detected in Asinara, indicates
a significant level of inbreeding in this breed. Overall values of Wright F statistics were FIS =
0.127, FST = 0.109, FIT = 0.222 (P<0.001), thus indicating the existence of moderate levels of
inbreeding in the total population and a significant partition of genetic variability between breeds.
The Sardinian breeds, Asinara and Sardo Grigio, shared some distinctive genetic traits that
separated them from the remaining Italian donkeys. Asinara and Sardo Grigio, in fact, were
assigned to the same cluster by both the Neighbor-net (Figure 3) and the Bayesian assignment
(Figure 4); in this latter case, in particular, they are included in the first partition revealed by
Structure software and form a group that remains strongly supported. The FST value of 0.041 also
supports the idea of a close similarity between ASI and SAG. This molecular evidence found
further support in the remarkable similarity in size and morphological traits of these breeds.
Figure 3 – Neighbor-net based on Reynolds distance
matrix between breeds.
Figure 4 – Bayesian clustering preformed with
Structure software on donkey microsatellite data. From
top to bottom: assignment of single individuals (thin
vertical bars) to the different clusters.