Horse, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, giraffe, deer… What do you think unites these representatives of the fauna? All these animals are ungulates. In our article, we will find out the basics of classification and structural features of these representatives of the class Mammals.
Ungulates: common features
The toes of this group of animals are covered with horny formations - hooves. This is the reason for their name. The basis of the diet of ungulates is plant foods. In this regard, they have well-developed molars with a folded surface and incisors. They serve to grind food. The ability to run quickly, relying on fingers, is another feature that characterizes these animals. Ungulates also have a special structure of the girdle of the upper limbs - they do not have developed clavicles.
Odd-toed ungulates
Representatives of this group are quite diverse animals. Ungulates unite in two groups. In the former, the number of fingers on the limb is one or three. These are representatives of the equine order. Modern taxonomy includes 16 species of such animals. by the mostcommon ones are zebra, horse, kulan, donkey, rhinoceros. Their stomach has a simple structure, so the bacteria that live in the large intestine take part in the digestion of plant foods.
Non-ruminant artiodactyls
Representatives of the order Artiodactyls are distinguished by the peculiarities of the structure of the digestive system. Pigs and hippos are non-ruminants. They are distinguished by a massive body and relatively short limbs, on which four fingers are located. Their digestive system has a standard structure for representatives of mammals. The stomach is simple, not differentiated into departments.
Representatives of non-ruminants are widely known. For example, a large ungulate animal is a wild boar, or a pig. It is easily recognizable by its elongated muzzle with a bare "nickle" around the nostrils. With its help, the animal digs the ground, getting food. The wild boar lives mainly in oak and beech moist forests, dense thickets of shrubs.
Another striking example of non-ruminant ungulates is the hippo, or hippopotamus. This is a real giant, whose weight reaches more than three tons. His thick skin needs constant moisture. Therefore, hippos lead a semi-aquatic lifestyle. They are common in tropical East and Central Africa. However, as a result of poaching extermination, most often they can be found in protected areas.
Ruminant artiodactyls
These are also ungulates, buttheir distinctive feature is the special structure of the digestive organs. So, with the help of sharp incisors, edible parts of plants are cut off. Chemical processing is carried out with saliva, and further mechanical grinding is carried out with flat molars.
The stomach of ruminants consists of four specialized departments. The first, and most voluminous of them, is called a scar. It is the enzymatic processing of food. These substances are found in saliva and are secreted by special types of symbiotic bacteria that live in the stomach.
Further, food enters the net, and the animals regurgitate it back into the mouth. This is where the chewing gum is formed. She is again moistened with saliva, chewed, and then sent to the third section of the stomach - a book.
This part is named so for a reason. Its walls have folds that really visually resemble the pages of a book. From here, partially digested food enters the last section, which is called "abomasum", where it is finally split under the action of gastric juice. Ruminants include giraffes, bulls, elks, goats, roe deer, bison, deer.
Hoofed domestic animal in human economic activity
Many species of ungulates are of great economic importance. The most striking example of this is the almost universal development of pig breeding. Man began to breed this animal even before BC. e. during the period of the primitive communal stratum. This direction has achieved wide distribution due to high productivity indicators, energyvalues, unpretentiousness to climatic conditions. Pig breeding is the leading livestock industry in China, Japan, Korea, Germany, Great Britain, France, Russia, Ukraine.
"Drink, children, milk - you will be he althy!" Each of us remembers these lines, well known to everyone since childhood. Cow is another large hoofed domestic animal that a person widely uses in his economic activities. It is bred to obtain not only meat and milk, but also valuable skin. Man began to domesticate cows in the Neolithic era, but they are still considered sacred animals in some countries. The USA, Brazil, China, Argentina, Russia are considered the world leaders in beef production.
So, ungulates are animals whose fingers are protected by dense horn formations. All of them are representatives of the class Mammals. Depending on the number of fingers on the limbs, unpaired and artiodactyls are distinguished.
