The Balearic shares common origins with the Catalan and the Baudet du Poitou.

[4] In the early twentieth century it was prized outside the islands too, and many were exported to England, and later to the United States.

[7] The breed population fell rapidly in the first half of that century, and it came close to disappearing; the number of pure-bred animals is now stable.

From 1997 the Balearic donkey was listed by the Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente, the Spanish ministry of agriculture, as "under special protection, in danger of extinction".

[8] Its conservation status was listed as "critical" by the FAO in 2007[1] and as "endangered" by the SAVE Foundation in 2008.