First human-made hybrid animal

The first known human-made hybrid animal is the now-extinct kunga, a big, powerful equine form used to pull war wagons and royal chariots, which was an F1 (first generation) hybrid form produced approximately 4,500 years ago in the Middle East by mating female domestic donkeys (Equus africanus asinus) with male Syrian wild asses (E. hemionus hemippus), the latter of which is now also extinct. The kunga had long been known to science not only from its portrayal in Bronze-Age Mesopotamian art but also from intact buried skeletons of it discovered at the northern Syrian burial complex of Umm el-Marra. However, its hybrid identity had not previously been realized, because the bones of donkeys, kungas, asses, mules, horses and other equids are all very similar morphologically. But research published in Science Advances in January 2022 shows that when DNA samples extracted from kunga bones buried at Umm el-Marra were analysed, this hitherto-mysterious animal was found to have been a domestic donkey x Syrian wild ass mix.

Being hybrids, kungas were almost certainly sterile, so Syrian wild ass stallions would have needed to be deliberately captured and introduced to female domestic donkeys on a regular basis in order to perpetuate the much-needed kunga strain.

A powerful equine form was needed to pull the big, heavy war wagons into battle and the royal chariots in parades, but horses had not been introduced into the Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East as far back as 4,500 years ago, and donkeys were not big or strong enough to do this. Consequently, the larger, sturdier kunga was specifically, intentionally bred from the two equine forms already present (domestic donkey and Syrian wild ass) in order to fulfil these vital functions instead.

Further confirming their significance, kungas were only buried alongside persons of high social status, and examination of their teeth showed that kungas had worn bits in their mouths and were well fed. Once horses were introduced into the Fertile Crescent, however, circa 4,000 years ago, kungas were surplus to requirements, so they were no longer bred, and horses, as well as mules (male donkey x female horse hybrids), were used instead.