Jumart (also known as bif or baf) is a term for a mythical hybrid animal, believed to be the offspring of a bull or cow and an equine (horse or donkey). Descriptions of such creatures appear in numerous naturalist texts and travel accounts from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Modern biology considers such cross-species hybridization to be impossible.
Etymology
The earliest recorded reference appears in Conrad Gesner's Historia Animalium (1551–1587), where it is called a jumar. The term first appears in a French-Latin dictionary in 1670 as jeumarre. Numerous alternate spellings and regional variants have been recorded, including jumarre, jumerre, gimerre, gemar, gemart, gémart, jemerri, jeumarre, jimère, jumère, joumar, and choumarrou. The terms baf (offspring of a bull and a mare), bif (offspring of a bull and a donkey), kumrah, hinnulus, and hippotaure were also used.
The Provençal writer Frédéric Mistral proposed that jumart may derive from chimera. The philologist Leo Spitzer suggested it may be a regional pronunciation of the French word for mare, jument. Other proposed derivations include the Algerian word for donkey (hmara), the Hebrew word for donkey (chamor), and the French word for twin (jumeau).
Description
The jumart was most often described as having the body of an equine with the head (and sometimes the tail) of a bovine. It was generally described as lacking horns but possessing small protrusions on its head in their place. Some accounts described the jumart as nearly indistinguishable from an ordinary mule. It was frequently described as having an upper jaw shorter than the lower jaw (prognathia). Jumarts were generally reported to be small in stature—approximately 1.03 meters (about 3 feet 2 inches) according to the French naturalist Pierre-Joseph Buc'hoz—and were said to display strength disproportionate to their size.
Behavior
The jumart was generally described as having an obstinate and vicious temperament, though some accounts highlighted its utility as a mount and pack animal. According to the Genevan naturalist Charles Bonnet, the cry of a jumart did not resemble that of either parent but was similar to that of a goat.
Scientific Investigations
The existence of the jumart was a subject of vigorous debate among prominent naturalists in the 18th and 19th centuries, including Valmont de Bomare, Felix Vicq d'Azyr, Georges-Louis Leclerc (Comte de Buffon), Charles Bonnet, and Claude Bourgelat.
The Italian biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani unsuccessfully attempted to create a jumart by cross-breeding a bull with a female donkey. The German physiologist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach recounted the dissection of four alleged jumarts, none of which bore evidence of bovine heritage; the latter two were concluded to be hinnies (hybrids of a male horse and a female donkey).
Proposed Origins of the Myth
Three main explanations have been proposed for the jumart myth:
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Hinnies: The British botanist Thomas Andrew Knight noted that hinnies (male horse × female donkey) differ in appearance from the more common mule (male donkey × female horse) and might be mistaken for a novel hybrid.
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Achondroplasia: The Musée Fragonard d'Alfort identifies a skull once purported to belong to a jumart as that of a horse with achondroplasia (dwarfism). This mutation is unusually prevalent in the Dauphiné region of southeast France, from which many reports of jumarts originate. Dwarf horses are prone to prognathia (protruding lower jaw), matching descriptions of jumarts.
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Economic incentives: Historian Conway Zirkle noted that owners of so-called jumarts stood to gain financially, as naturalists paid more for supposed hybrid specimens than the animals' owners could obtain elsewhere.
Cultural Impact
The jumart was proposed as one of the domesticated animals for a dedicated day in the French Republican calendar (the 15th of Messidor), though it was ultimately replaced with the chamois. The saying "fort coum un gimerou" or "forte come un giumarro" ("strong as a jumart") persists in Italian usage.
