Information about Bovidae

Bovids
Sable Antelope Sable Antelope
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Artiodactyla Family: Bovidae Gray, 1821
Subfamilies
Bovinae Cephalophinae Hippotraginae Antilopinae Caprinae Reduncinae Aepycerotinae Peleinae Alcelaphinae Panthalopinae

A bovid is any of almost 140 species of cloven-hoofed 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 buffalo, bison, antelopes, gazelles, and both wild and domesticated cattle, sheep, goats, and water buffalo.

The largest bovids weigh well over a ton and stand 2 metres high at the shoulder; the smallest weigh about 3 kg and stand no taller than a large domestic cat. Some are thick-set and muscular, others lightly built with small frames and long legs. Many species congregate into large groups with complex social structures, but others are mostly solitary. Within their extensive range, they occupy a wide variety of habitat types, from desert to tundra and from thick tropical forest to high mountains.

Most members of the family are herbivorous (the exceptions being the duikers, most of which are omnivorous). All bovids have a four-chambered stomach which allows most of them to digest foods that are too low in nutriment for many other animals, notably grasses. No animal is able to directly digest cellulose: like (for example) kangaroos and termites, bovids rely on stomach micro-organisms to break down cellulose by fermentation.

Because of the size and weight of their complex digestive systems, many bovids have a solid, stocky build; the more gracile members of the family tend to have more selective diets, and be browsers rather than grazers. Their canine teeth are either missing or else modified to act as extra incisors. All bovids have four toes on each foot – they walk on the central two (the hoofs), the outer two (the dew-claws) rarely touch the ground. All males and many females have horns (except in some domesticated breeds); the size and shape varies greatly but the basic structure is always a single bony protrusion without branches and covered in a permanent sheath of keratin.

The family is known through fossil records from the early Miocene. The largest number of modern bovids are found in Africa, with substantial but less diverse populations in Asia and North America. It is thought that many of the bovid species, which evolved in Asia, were unable to survive the sudden advent of a new and unfamiliar predator when humans first emerged from Africa in the late Pleistocene, the African species, on the other hand, had many thousands of years, perhaps a few millions, in which to gradually adapt to the equally gradual development of human hunting skills. It is notable that many of the commonly domesticated bovid species (goats, sheep, water buffalo, the Yak) are of Asian origin: it is suggested by some that the Asian bovids had less fear of humans and were more docile.

The small number of modern American bovids are relatively recent arrivals over the Bering Land Bridge, although they long predate human arrival.

• ORDER ARTIODACTYLA: even-toed ungulates
• Suborder Suina: pigs and allies
• Suborder Tylopoda: camels and llamas
• Suborder Ruminantia: ruminants
• Infraorder Tragulina
• Family Tragulidae: chevrotains, 6 species in 4 genera
• Infraorder Pecora
• Family Moschidae: musk deer, 4 species in one genus
• Family Antilocapridae: pronghorns, one species in one genus
• Family Giraffidae: giraffes and okapi, 2 species in 2 genera
• Family Cervidae: deer, 43 species in 16 genera
• Family Bovidae
• Subfamily Bovinae: cattle and spiral-horned antelopes, 24 species in 9 genera
• Subfamily Cephalophinae: duikers, 19 species in 2 genera
• Subfamily Hippotraginae: grazing antelopes, 6 species in 5 genera
• Subfamily Antilopinae: gazelles, dwarf antelopes and the saiga, 38 species in 14 genera
• Subfamily Caprinae: sheep, goats, 26 species in 12 genera
• Subfamily Reduncinae: reedbucks, lechwe, 8 species in 2 genera
• Subfamily Aepycerotinae: impala, 1 species in 1 genus
• Subfamily Peleinae: rhebok, 1 species in 1 genus
• Subfamily Alcelaphinae: wildebeest, topi/tsessebe, 7 species in 4 genera
• Subfamily Panthalopinae: Chiru

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