{"id":88279,"date":"2025-06-01T07:07:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T07:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/?p=88279"},"modified":"2025-06-01T07:07:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T07:07:00","slug":"a-horse-and-a-donkey-can-breed-to-produce-mule-which-is-an-infertile-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/a-horse-and-a-donkey-can-breed-to-produce-mule-which-is-an-infertile-a\/","title":{"rendered":"A horse and a donkey can breed to produce mule which is an infertile a"},"content":{"rendered":"

A horse and a donkey can breed to produce mule which is an infertile animal. The infertility is because horse and donkey belong to different<\/p>\n

[amp_mcq option1=”class” option2=”order” option3=”species” option4=”genus” correct=”option3″]<\/p>\n

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This question was previously asked in<\/div>\n
UPSC NDA-2 – 2016<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Download PDF<\/a>Attempt Online<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nMules are infertile because horses and donkeys belong to different species.
\n<\/section>\n
\nA species is generally defined as a group of organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring. While horses (Equus caballus) and donkeys (Equus asinus) can interbreed to produce a mule (or a hinny), their offspring are almost always sterile. This sterility arises because horses and donkeys have different numbers of chromosomes (horses have 64, donkeys have 62). The mule inherits 63 chromosomes, which cannot pair properly during meiosis, preventing the formation of viable gametes (sperm or eggs), thus leading to infertility.
\n<\/section>\n
\nHorses and donkeys belong to the same genus, Equus, which indicates a relatively recent common ancestor compared to differences at the order or class level. The ability to produce hybrid offspring, even if infertile, is common between closely related species within the same genus.
\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A horse and a donkey can breed to produce mule which is an infertile animal. The infertility is because horse and donkey belong to different [amp_mcq option1=”class” option2=”order” option3=”species” option4=”genus” correct=”option3″] This question was previously asked in UPSC NDA-2 – 2016 Download PDFAttempt Online Mules are infertile because horses and donkeys belong to different species. … <\/p>\n

Detailed SolutionA horse and a donkey can breed to produce mule which is an infertile a<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1094],"tags":[1098,1117,1243],"class_list":["post-88279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-upsc-nda-2","tag-1098","tag-biology","tag-taxonomy","no-featured-image-padding"],"yoast_head":"\nA horse and a donkey can breed to produce mule which is an infertile a<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mules are infertile because horses and donkeys belong to different species. A species is generally defined as a group of organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring. While horses (Equus caballus) and donkeys (Equus asinus) can interbreed to produce a mule (or a hinny), their offspring are almost always sterile. This sterility arises because horses and donkeys have different numbers of chromosomes (horses have 64, donkeys have 62). The mule inherits 63 chromosomes, which cannot pair properly during meiosis, preventing the formation of viable gametes (sperm or eggs), thus leading to infertility.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/a-horse-and-a-donkey-can-breed-to-produce-mule-which-is-an-infertile-a\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A horse and a donkey can breed to produce mule which is an infertile a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mules are infertile because horses and donkeys belong to different species. A species is generally defined as a group of organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring. While horses (Equus caballus) and donkeys (Equus asinus) can interbreed to produce a mule (or a hinny), their offspring are almost always sterile. This sterility arises because horses and donkeys have different numbers of chromosomes (horses have 64, donkeys have 62). The mule inherits 63 chromosomes, which cannot pair properly during meiosis, preventing the formation of viable gametes (sperm or eggs), thus leading to infertility.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/a-horse-and-a-donkey-can-breed-to-produce-mule-which-is-an-infertile-a\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MCQ and Quiz for Exams\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-01T07:07:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rawan239\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rawan239\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A horse and a donkey can breed to produce mule which is an infertile a","description":"Mules are infertile because horses and donkeys belong to different species. 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