(CNN) Bronze Age bioengineers created the earliest hybrid animal -- a majestic horselike creature known as a kunga that had a donkey mom, a Syrian wild ass for a father and lived 4,500 years ago, according to new research based on the sequencing of DNA from the animal's skeleton. Descriptions and imagery in Mesopotamian art and texts portray a powerful animal that pulled war wagons into battle and royal vehicles in parades. Domesticated horses didn't arrive in the region, sometimes referred to as the Fertile Crescent, until 4,000 years ago. Jill Weber, an author of the study, excavating equid burials at Umm el-Marra, Syria. Intact skeletons of the creatures were buried alongside high-status people -- the upper crust of Bronze Age society -- at the burial complex of Umm el-Marra in northern Syria, suggesting the animals occupied a very special position.

Source: CNN January 15, 2022 15:40 UTC