It's spring, which means most people's donkeys are shaking off the winter blues and getting a little bit spicy. While donkeys tend to exhibit less seasonality to their breeding than some species (horses, sheep), they do tend to have some seasonality to their estrus cycles (more along the lines of cats than humans). What that usually means for owners is you'll start to see more activities in line with reproductive behavior starting in late winter, peaking in the spring, lessening throughout the summer, and being at their lowest level in autumn and winter.
What do we mean by "reproductive behaviors"? This can be anything from play fighting, and biting, to mounting and clacking and other estrus behaviors. These behaviors are typical amongst same sex and mixed sex herds, with slight differences. Of course females will exhibit estrus behaviors like clacking, while males (gelded or not) will tend to bite and roughhouse slightly more than their female counterparts. As with all animals, behaviors depend on the individuals and herd dynamics. It's usually generalized that males will play rough, but some jennets have been known to hold their own with a male.
Should you be worried when your animals partake in these behaviors? Generally speaking, no. Of course, if your intention is not to breed, you should not allow intact males over six months of age to be housed with females over six months of age. There will be more on that in a later article. However many new owners become concerned when their donkeys suddenly start to engage in burro battles, chasing, biting, and ripping out chunks of hair. Should their animals be separated??? As we'll say about all living creatures: it depends. If your animals are closely matched in size and health, and they have plenty of room to escape each other, it's typically not a problem.
When should you worry? These behaviors, while not atypical, can become a problem in some situations. You may want to consider separating your animals if:
Your donkeys are of very different sizes, especially if the antagonist is larger. If you have a standard constantly harassing a mini, it is more likely to lead to injury.
One animal is relentless in their antagonizing. Reciprocal play will generally have one animal chasing, mounting, or biting at the other for a short amount of time, then will switch and the other will chase, mount, or bite. If one animal is doing all of the chasing, with the other simply trying to escape and not engaging in a reciprocal manner, it may be time to intervene.
True injuries or damage occurs. Bleeding, hard kicking, and behaviors causing injury beyond some lost hair should not be allowed to take place.
Your donkey or donkeys are in fragile health. This can mean one is sick, injured, underweight, or simply elderly. Any animal who needs extra physical assistance should not be allowed to partake in rough play.
You have uneven herd numbers and individuals are struggling. This will happen most often if your herd is primarily made up of one sex, with only one individual of the opposite sex. It's more likely to occur if you have several geldings to one jennet, but can also happen if there are multiple jennets to one gelding. The animals with greater numbers will gang up on or take turns antagonizing the odd donkey out, offering them no respite.
These behaviors may all indicate a need for change in management practices, whether it's a larger paddock or dry lot, or rearranging your herd and permanently separating animals will be dependent on your particular situation. Just remember, most donkeys don't do well alone, so you may have to separate out your two most submissive to be together while the more rough and tumble members of the herd sort their shenanigans amongst themselves.