Answer:
True
Step-by-step explanation:
That’s not always the case with donkeys and horses, which are of two different species. Usually, it’s the male donkey (jack) mating with a female horse (mare) to produce a mule, which can come in either sex. Less frequently, a male horse (stallion) will mate with a female donkey (jenny) to produce a hinny, which also come in both varieties. But while mules have turned out to be extremely valuable work animals, neither mules nor hinnies can mate among themselves to produce their own offspring because of their odd origins. Here’s why:
Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, which enable your genetic information to be passed on to your children. When human eggs and sperm collide, you have 23 chromosomes from each parent. So your dad’s chromosome No. 1 lines up with mom’s No. 1, No. 2 lines up with No. 2, etc. Each pair is nearly identical, so when egg and sperm merge, the pairs usually combine smoothly to create another healthy baby that eventually will be capable of carrying on the species.
Not so with mules and hinnies. Horses, you see, have 32 pairs of chromosomes while a donkey has only 31. As a result, their offspring will inherit 32 horse chromosomes and 31 donkey chromosomes, which, as you can see, leaves one chromosome that can’t match with anything. If you know a little about genetics, you know that some humans do occasionally wind up with an extra copy of chromosome 21. The result is a person with Down syndrome. Other extra chromosomes can produce miscarriages in humans. In mules, this extra chromosome poses a problem when it comes to creating sex cells.
Hope this helps