Artiodactyls
Note: This page is best viewed in millions of colors.
WARNING: This file is 550K. This page will take several minutes to download if you have a 14.4 or lower modem. To view the movie, you need to have a plug-in in your browser or a QTVR player. To view the movie on your browser, you need a plug-in. To view a file that you have downloaded you need a QTVR player. You can download the programs from these sites:
[Instructions on Viewing the QTVR Movie]
Highlights from this Movie
Artiodactyls are even-toed ungulates (hoofed animals), in which the weight is carried between two center toes. They are also herbivores (plant eaters).
Ruminants and Their Stomachs
Ruminants are artiodactyls having complicated stomachs and cud-chewing habits. The most typical artiodactyls have the most highly specialized stomachs. Modern Pecora (higher ruminants) generally have four-chambered stomachs and some type of horns. Most lack upper incisors, using the lower incisors and canines against a horny pad for cropping. The two functional toes became fused into a cannon bone.
The common deer (Odocoileus) had its origin in North America. A number of living offshoots remain in South America.
Cattle
The cattle-like types are the most numerous and varied ruminants. These have hollow horns, made of modified hair, over a bony core. A number of subgroups can be distinguished from the cattle proper.
The family Bovidae (cattle, antelopes, goats, etc.) bear simple unbranched horns (usually in both sexes, but in a number of antelopes, only in the male) of bone covered by a permanent horny sheath. By far the largest living group of artiodactyls, the bovidae appeared rather late, in the Miocene (about 5 to 25 million years ago) of Eurasia. Their greatest development was in the Pleistocene (about 2 million years ago) of southern Asia and Africa. Only a few cold-hardy forms reached North America , and none reached South America.
A large group of fossil and living "Antelopes" is represented by the sable antelope, oryx, hartebeest, and gnus. Most are now African, a few Asian. Very closely related to the true cattle are large African "Antelopes" such as the Kudu and eland, and certain Asiatic forms.
The most widespread ruminants today are the true cattle of various wild and domestic types. Cattle, true buffalo and bison arose in the Pleistocene from large cow-like antelopes of the Old World (Europe, Asia, and Africa). Man has found them widely useful and has selectively bred, from primitive types, cattle specialized for particular purposes.
North America in the Pleistocene (about 2 million years ago) had numerous bison, derived from Old World immigrant stock and including types now extinct. Some were of gigantic proportions. These animals were a principal source of food for humans. Once they were domesticated, they gave humans a mode of transportation. They could be trained to till the ground for crops. They gave milk, provided hides for clothing, and fuel for fire. In some cultures they were possessions of prestige, had sacred significance and were the basis of myth and legend.
Camels & Llamas
The sole modern survivors of the primitive ruminants (tylopoda) are the camels and llamas. The group originated in North America. Before their extinction here in the Pleistocene (about 2 million years ago), they spread to the Old World (camels) and South America (Guanacos, woolly, reddish-brown animals without humps).
Their feet are different from other artiodactyls', having two spreading toes nearly flat on the ground, small nails instead of hoofs, and a heavy pad beneath the toes. The reduction of toes and fusion of leg bones are typically artiodactyl. As typical camels evolved, they grew larger; the toes spread, hoofs were reduced, and the metacarpals and metatarsals (the bones between the ankles and toes) became fully fused into cannon bones.
Camelops, a highly evolved large camel, lived in our Southwest until rather recent times. Its teeth had been reduced in number and adapted for browsing. The cause of its extinction is unknown.
One or Two Humps?
There are two types of Old World camels. One type has a single hump on its back; the other has two. The hump is a place for storing fat, which is used as a source of energy.
The Bactrian camel has two humps on its back. Most Bactrian camels live in the mountain deserts of Asia. Nomadic people depend on domesticated Bactrians for wool, meat, and milk. They are also used for carrying loads and for riding. Wild Bactrian camels are still found in remote areas, but their numbers are dwindling.
The Dromedary camel has one hump. The Dromedary is important to nomadic tribes in the deserts of northern Africa, the Middle East, and India.
There are four species of South American camel, also called lamoids. They are smaller than the camels of the Old World, and do not have humps on their backs. The llama is a domesticated South American camel, which has been bred for use as a pack animal.
Links to other pages:
[Homepage] [History] [Sauropods] [Perissodactyls] [Multi-Node Movie] [QTVR]
Adapted from exhibit descriptions by John Klausmeyer, Exhibit Preparator, University of Michigan Exhibit Museum
© 2008, Drexel University, All Rights Reserved