The world of animals is great and diverse: elegant and graceful, heavyweights and thick-skinned. An interesting group of ungulate inhabitants of our planet. Artiodactyl animals are called so due to the fact that they have a pair of fingers, reliably protected by a horny hoof. Differ in medium and large sizes, live in forests, mountains, steppes, deserts. Many have horns. Wild forms are widespread on all continents, excluding Antarctica, Australia and Oceania. However, in Australia now you can meet ungulates brought and acclimatized by man.
The fact is that this continent was under the rule of English colonists. As you know, the British often drink tea, preferring to dilute it with milk. Therefore, to satisfy their tastes, they brought cows to Australia. It would seem that peaceful cows, well known to us from children's cartoons, melancholy chewing grass, are a symbol of rural idyll. However, they nearly caused an environmental disaster! Since cows were artificially distributed across the Australian continent, they could not have had any natural enemies or insects to help decompose the cow cakes, which filled up very quickly.pastures. I had to urgently import dung beetles, better known as "scarabs". The Egyptians revered them as sacred, since each scarab would certainly push a ball of dung in front of it, which was perceived by the Egyptians as a symbol of the sun for a similar shape.
All artiodactyl animals are divided into species: ruminants, non-ruminants and corns (camel). The largest number of varieties is concentrated in Africa and Asia. Mostly domesticated species live in America.
Artiodactyl animals for the most part lead a terrestrial way of life. Only a few species, such as the hippopotamus, are also found in the water. Mountain goats have adapted to life in the mountains and can climb rocks very well.
Africa breaks records for the most unusual and amazing representatives of artiodactyls. The first place, perhaps, could easily be taken by a hippopotamus - an African artiodactyl animal. He has an impressive appearance and peculiar habits.
The slender kudu is found throughout Africa.
The giraffe, a ruminant artiodactyl animal, looks original and unusual. A more famous species is the Massai giraffe, which is yellow-brown in color with irregularly shaped chocolate spots. At first glance, so awkward, he has excellent eyesight and sensitive hearing. Thanks to its coloring, the giraffe seems to dissolve in the expanses of the savannah, merging with the background of vegetation.
Lychee in appearance resembles a swamp goat. She haslong and thin horns, which, when running, she throws on her back. The lychee has a long tail and coarse, coarse hair. The color of the body is dark red, but the throat and neck are always white, like a sweater collar. Long hooves are usually set wide apart.
Gerenuk or giraffe gazelle is another unusual representative of artiodactyls. The body length of the animal is about 1.6 m. Males boast beautifully curved, lyre-shaped horns.
Artiodactyl animals are one of the most numerous. They decorate the zoological world of our planet.
