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PASSIVE Present since 1.14 or earlier

Donkey mob in Minecraft

The Donkey is the pack animal of the horse family: once tamed, it carries a chest full of items and can be saddled and ridden. It cannot wear horse armor, and bred with a horse it gives a mule.

Health: 15 to 307.5 to 15 hearts
Behavior: Passive
Food
Found in: 6 biomes

Donkey stats

Health: 15 to 30 7.5 to 15 heartsRandom, set when it spawns
Behavior: Passive
Main drop: Leather
Spawns in: 6 biomes
Size: 1.396 × 1.5 blocks
XP when killed: 1 to 3none as a baby
Speed: 0.175
Detection range: 16 blocks
Tempt range: 10 blocks

// Experience drops only when a player kills it. Speeds are the game’s internal values, not blocks per second.

Where to find Donkey

Biomes where it spawns naturally, with its share of the spawns in each group.

Spawning

Group size: 11 to 3 · depends on the biome
Light level: 9 or more
Spawns on: Grass Block

Donkey drops

Donkey dropsFrom the loot table · chance per kill

Leather+1 per Looting level0–2

Carried items and gearDropped on death, outside the loot table (game code)

Anything a player put on itAlways dropped: Saddle100%

Its chest and everything stored in itAlways dropped100%

Health compared

Health vs other passive mobshealth points

Camel32

Camel Husk32

Donkey15–30

Horse15–30

Mule15–30

Turtle30

Zombie Horse25

Donkey and its family

Mobs built on the same base in the game code, compared on their game values.

Mob	Health	XP	Speed	Horse armor	Breathes underwater	Ignores Poison and Regeneration	Inverted healing	Weak to Smite	Undead
Donkey	15–30	1–3	0.175	·	·	·	·	·	·
Horse	15–30	1–3	0.225	✓	·	·	·	·	·
Mule	15–30	1–3	0.175	·	·	·	·	·	·
Skeleton Horse	15	1–3	0.2	·	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Zombie Horse	25	1–3	0.225	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓

Traits

Properties set in the game files.

SaddleCan be saddled and ridden.

Dismounts underwaterRiders are thrown off underwater.

Food and breeding

Items it eats, follows or breeds with.

Apple

Carrot

Enchanted Golden Apple

Feeding and taming

Each food adds taming points: the chance to tame it on the next ride. Bars show that added chance.

Golden Appleheals 10 health · baby grows 240 s sooner · breeds when tamed+10%

Enchanted Golden Appleheals 10 health · baby grows 240 s sooner · breeds when tamed+10%

Golden Carrotheals 4 health · baby grows 60 s sooner · breeds when tamed+5%

Appleheals 3 health · baby grows 60 s sooner+3%

Carrotheals 3 health · baby grows 60 s sooner+3%

Wheatheals 2 health · baby grows 20 s sooner+3%

Sugarheals 1 health · baby grows 30 s sooner+3%

Hay Baleheals 20 health · baby grows 180 s sooner—

// Each failed ride also adds 5 points.

What you can do with Donkey

Items to use on it and what happens.

Add a chestChestOnce tamed, put a Chest on it to carry items.

Baby Donkey

Bred with

Golden Apple

Golden Carrot

Enchanted Golden Apple Tamed adults only All baby mobs →

Gear and tools

Items it can wear, and items you use on it.

WearsSaddle

Advancements with Donkey

Advancements whose criteria involve this mob, from the game files.

Two by TwoBreed all the animals!

Command

Summon a Donkey/summon →

/summon minecraft:donkey ~ ~ ~

Taming a donkey

Donkeys spawn in plains, savannas and meadows, usually in small groups. They are tamed exactly like horses: climb on with an empty hand, get thrown off, and try again until hearts appear. Feeding it sugar, wheat or apples first makes it accept you sooner.

Giving it a chest

Use a chest on a tamed adult donkey and it straps it to its back. The chest gives fifteen extra slots, which you open from the donkey's inventory while riding it or while sneaking next to it. That makes a donkey a mobile storage unit: take it on a long trip, fill it with ores or wood, and bring everything home in one go. You can even lead a loaded donkey on a lead while you ride a faster horse.

The cargo is not safe forever: if the donkey dies, the chest and everything in it drop on the ground. Keep it away from lava, cliffs and creepers, and tie it to a fence with a lead while you work.

Riding a donkey

With a saddle, a tamed donkey can be steered like a horse. It is a fine mount for short trips but usually slower than a good horse, and it cannot wear any horse armor. Like a horse, it throws you off when it goes underwater. Wheat, sugar, apples and hay bales heal a hurt donkey.

Breeding donkeys and making mules

Two tamed donkeys breed with golden carrots or golden apples, the same foods as horses. Breed a donkey with a tamed horse instead and you get a mule, which also carries a chest but can never breed itself. Keep at least two donkeys if you want to make mules regularly.

✓ Checked in Java Edition 26.3 · updated 1 November 2026