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Ruminantia

(Suborder)

Overview

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The biological suborder Ruminantia includes many of the well-known large grazing or browsing : among them cattle, goats, sheep, deer, and antelope. All members of the Ruminantia are ruminants: they digest food in two steps, chewing and swallowing in the normal way to begin with, and then regurgitating the semi-digested cud to re-chew it and thus extract the maximum possible food value.

Note that not all ruminants belong to the Ruminantia. Camels and llamas are among the exceptions, a suborder known as Tylopoda. Also, there are a number of other large grazing mammals that, while not strictly ruminants, have similar adaptations for surviving on large quantities of low-grade food. Kangaroos and horses are examples.

Photos

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Taxonomy

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The Suborder Ruminantia is a member of the Order Artiodactyla. Here is the complete "parentage" of Ruminantia:

The Suborder Ruminantia is further organized into finer groupings including:

Families

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Amphimerycidae

[more]

Antilocapridae

Antilocapridae is a family of endemic to North America. Their closest extant relatives are the giraffids. Only one species, the pronghorn (Antilocapra americana), is living today; all other members of the family are extinct. The living pronghorn is a small ruminant mammal resembling an antelope. It bears small, forked horns. [more]

Bachitheriidae

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Bovidae

A bovid is any of almost 140 species of mammals belonging to the family Bovidae. The family is widespread, being native to all continents except South America, Australia and Antarctica, and diverse: members include bison, water buffalo, antelopes, gazelles, sheep, goats, muskox, and domestic cattle. [more]

Cervidae

Deer are the mammals forming the family Cervidae. They include for example Moose, Red Deer, Reindeer, Roe and Chital. Animals from related families within the order Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates) are often also considered to be deer – these include muntjac and water deer. Male (and a few female) deer of all species (except the Chinese Water deer who only have short tusks instead) grow and shed new antlers each year – in this they differ from permanently horned animals such as antelope – these are in the same order as deer and may bear a superficial resemblance. The musk deer of Asia and Water Chevrotain (or Mouse Deer) of tropical African and Asian forests are not usually regarded as true deer and form their own families, Moschidae and Tragulidae, respectively. [more]

Climacoceratidae

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Gelocidae

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Giraffidae

The giraffids are artiodactyl mammals that share a common ancestor with deer and bovids. The biological family Giraffidae, once a diverse group spread throughout Eurasia and Africa, contains only two living members, the giraffe and the okapi. Both are confined to sub-saharan Africa: the giraffe to the open savannas, and the okapi to the dense rainforest of the Congo. The two species look very different on first sight, but share a number of common features, including a long, dark-colored tongue, lobed canine teeth, and horns covered in skin, called "ossicones". [more]

Hoplitomerycidae

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Hypertragulidae

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Leptomerycidae

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Lophiomerycidae

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Moschidae

Musk deer are of the genus Moschus, the only genus of family Moschidae. They are more primitive than the cervids, or true deer, in not having antlers or facial glands, in having only a single pair of teats, and in possessing a gall bladder, a caudal gland, a pair of tusk-like teeth and—of particular economic importance to humans—a musk gland. Moschids live mainly in forested and alpine scrub habitats in the mountains of southern Asia. [more]

Palaeomerycidae

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Tragulidae

The nine species of chevrotain, also known as mouse deer, make up the Tragulidae. Chevrotains are small, secretive creatures, now found only in the tropical forests of Africa, India, Sri Lanka, and South-east Asia. They are the only living members of the infraorder Tragulina. [more]

At least 31 species and subspecies belong to the Family Tragulidae.

More info about the Family Tragulidae may be found here.

Sources

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Last Revised: September 22, 2009
2009/09/22 09:34:56