


Habitat: Poitou region of France
Status: Domesticated, but rare breed.
There may be only around 180 purebred Poitou in existence and it is placed on The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy list. It is instantly recognizable by a number of strange characteristics but mostly by this: ” Its shaggy coat, called a “cadanette“, hangs in “long cords or shaggy hanks” when ungroomed because the hair is longer and softer than that of other breeds of donkey. Animals with great cadanettes of matted and tangled hair were most highly valued.” (via Wikipedia)
In the Middle Ages, owning a Poitou Donkey may have been a status symbol among the local French nobility.