부산대학교 도서관

In order to determine the technical and economic characteristics of mule transportation in mountains conditions, experimented muleteer were questioned between August 1996 and October 1998 in the region of UBPC "La Leonor", Tercer Frente district, Santiago de Cuba province. Twenty-four mules were investigated, among them, twenty were used only for pack transportation, the rest were mounted by muleteers to accompany the pack loaded animals. The following average values were obtained for the different investigated parameters : age : 9.23 years ; corporal weight : 345 kg ; loading capacity : 90.90 kg, loading and unloading time per mule : 5 min, moving velocity : from 1.20 m. s-1 to 1.50 m. s-1 according to ground slope and soil humidity ; effective daily working time : between 9 to 10 hours. The best attended animals had a life expectancy higher than 16 years. The average yearly investment and exploitation costs per animals were $ 429 and $ 472.19 respectively.