"It was donkeys years ago" Are donkeys particularly long-lived?

The original saying was ...'as long as a donkey's ears' this was corrupted to 'donkey's years'

They tend to live longer than horses. Their lifespan can be 30 - 40 years, hence the old term 'donkeys years', as it goes back to the days when donkeys and horses were used for general work.

The donkey, with a life span longer that a horse,is related to the wild, and is believed to have been domesticated about 5,000 years ago in Egypt.(Donkeys Years Ago).An excellent pack animal..

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as other people have mentioned, donkeys generally do live longer than horses, many horses go on well in to their late 20's & it is not uncommon for a donkey to live in to their 40's. I believe the oldest living horse in the UK until recently (it died!) was 54 years old, which was a fat native pony. Thoroughbreds generally don't live as long as native breeds.

This is an example of an expression that has altered its spelling over time. "Not for donkey's ears" means not for a very long time and refers to the length of a donkey's ears. However, they gradually stretched from the "donkey" and turned "ears" into "years". The meaning of the expression is the same, if it does make rather less sense than the original.

It was definitely donkey's ears, but got changed over the years.

yeah they do live for very long a bout 30-40 years dats why they say donkeys years ago

No but they don't have good memories, either. Donkeys years are just a way of saying that you can't remember how long it was.

yes. some live up to 40 years

they live about 20-30 years in average