Kunga: Ancient Mesopotamians created the world’s first hybrid animal

Of course. the article being discussed is about this new found insight about this being the earliest known example.

> Among archeologists, the kunga is known as one of humanity’s first beasts of burden. Now, DNA research suggests that this striking equid may have also been the earliest human-made hybrid animal.

The onagers a.k.a. hemiones live in Western Asia, extending to the west until the Northern Arabian peninsula.

The territories of the wild donkeys and of the onagers a.k.a. hemiones did not overlap, so they never encountered each other in the wild.

The geographical separation is why they have evolved into different species, because they share a more recent common ancestor than with the horses.

The wild horses lived in Europe and in Central Asia, even farther from the places where wild donkeys lived.

These hybrids must have been obtained by intentional interbreeding, but the initial idea could have arisen by watching a male wild onager trying his luck with some female domestic donkeys, when they were not closely guarded. Such males are certainly not very selective when sensing females in estrus.