Perissodactyla (odd-toed) &
Artiodactyla (even-toed)

3 Families 10 Families

• Relatively large, hoofed, terrestrial herbivores
• Ungulates – Walk on the tips of their toes on keratinized hoofs.
• Cursorial movement
• Mostly hypsodont teeth, with complex occlusal surfaces.

SHARED
CHARACTERISTICS
Plantigrade
Digitigrade
Unguligrade

tapir rhino horse
Mesaxonic
“double-pulley” astragalus in artios limits distal limb motion to single plane pig deer camel pronghorn
Paraxonic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtnLNmB3ZNE

SHARED
CHARACTERISTICS
Major CRANIODENTAL trends in ungulate evolution:
Omnivore/carnivore
•pointy incisors & canines
•large temporalis, coronoid process; small angular pr.
of dentary
•cheekteeth tritubercular or bunodont,
Often brachyodont
Herbivore
•flat incisors, small or no canines; diastema
•small temporalis, coronoid process; large angular pr.
•cheekteeth flat for grinding; lophodont, selenodont, bilophodont.
Often hypsodont

Masticators
Croppers

DIFFERING CHARACTERISTICS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWg1u1bUKNc (Ruminant)
Rumination
(foregut fermentation)
Hindgut fermentation

Cellose digested:
60%
40-45%

• Quantity vs. Quality
– Perissodactyla – high passage rate, low digestion
– Artiodactyla – slower passage rate, more digestion
• http://www.newsminer.com/view/full_story/5784999/article-Alaska-biologists-try-to-ward-off-feeding-of-moose ?

Order Perissodactyla: 3 families, 6 genera,ca 17 species
Family Equidae (horses, asses, zebras)
1 genus, ca. 8 species
Family Tapiridae (tapirs)
1 genus, 4 species
Family Rhinocerotidae (rhinos)
4 genera, 5 species.
-MESAXONIC

tapir rhino horse
Mesaxonic
“double-pulley” astragalus in artios limits distal limb motion to single plane pig deer camel pronghorn
Paraxonic

• Relatively primitive living mammal
Perissodactyla

Perissodactyla
• Originated in North America and spread to
Asia and South America
• Extirpated from NA in Pleistocene

Perissodactyla
• Nose and upper lip form a pronounced, flexible proboscis (like an elephant)
• Assists with feeding
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szcRMFzV8uE (7 th min)

Perissodactyla
• Large and heavyset with a prehensile upper lip
• Family name refers to horn
– Agglutinated keratinized horn
• Neither horn attached to bone

glutenized, keratinized fibers

Perissodactyla
• Geographic extant limited to tropical and subtropical habitat because of poaching and habitat destruction

Perissodactyla
• All species considered endangered or critically endangered

Perissodactyla
• Relatively long, slender limbs, and only the 3 rd digit remains functional

Perissodactyla

Perissodactyla
• Literally shaped the formation, economics, and culture of human societies over the last
5000 years: see book “Guns, germs, and steel”
62 Spanish soldiers on horses took down an Inca empire.

Perissodactyla
• Different than other families of Perissodactyla
, Equids exhibit group living.

Order Artiodactyla: 10 families, 80 genera, >220 species!
Suborder Suiformes
Family Suidae -pigs
Family Tayassuidae -peccaries
Family Hippopotamidae-hippos
Suborder Tylopoda
Family Camelidae -camels, guanaco, llama, alpaca
Suborder Ruminantia
Infraorder Tragulina
Family Tragulidae -chevrotain, mouse deer
Infraorder Pecora
Superfamily Giraffoidea
Family Giraffidae -giraffes
Superfamily Cervoidea
Family Moschidae -musk deer
Family Cervidae -deer, elk, caribou, moose, reindeer
Family Antilocapridae -pronghorn
Superfamily Bovoidea
Family Bovidae -bison, muskox, goats, sheep, antelope, cows

tapir rhino horse
Mesaxonic
“double-pulley” astragalus in artios limits distal limb motion to single plane pig deer camel pronghorn
Paraxonic

Cranial appendages
Funcions:
-enable males to carry out combat in competition for mates
-secondarily used for display, indicators of social status, antipredator defense, secretion delivery

Cranial appendages bovid
True “horns” only found in bovids (Bovidae).
-unbranched and permanent
-Inner bony core, extension of frontal bone
-no parts are shed

Cranial appendages
Pronghorns (found only in Antilocapridae)
-Similar bony core to bovids
-horny sheath shed annually antilocaprid

Cranial appendages cervid
True antlers only in Cervidae
-entirely bony when fully developed
-extension of frontal bone
-shed periodically (usually annually in temperate zones)
-during growth, covered with velvet (highly vascularized)

Cranial appendages giraffe
Giraffe “horns”
-bony processes, but not outgrowths of the frontal bone
-situated over sutures b/w frontal and parietal bones
-permanently covered with skin and hair
-present from birth in both sexes

Cranial appendages rhino
Rhinoceros “horns”
-non-bony
-solid mass of hardened epidermal cells formed from cluster of long dermal papillae
-resulting fibers hair-like, but grow differently from true hairs
-not attached to underlying nasal bones

• Family Suidae
-pigs
• Family Tayassuidae -peccaries
• Family Hippopotamidae -hippos

• Quite different compared to the rest of artiodactyla
– Simple stomach – don’t ruminate (no cud)
– Less complex bunodont cheek teeth
– Canines are present and tusk like
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1xbGw-MG7I

Suborder Tylopoda
Family Camelidae -camels, guanaco, llama, alpaca
Only plantigrade or fully digitgrade ungulates (I know, how can you be a plantigrade ungulate?)
Lack horns or antlers. ( they bite for dominance )
Remarkable ability to conserve water ( loose up to 40% of water weight ).

Suborder Ruminantia
• Infraorder Tragulina
Family Tragulidae -chevrotain, mouse deer
• Infraorder Pecora
Superfamily Giraffoidea
Family Giraffidae -giraffes
Superfamily Cervoidea
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7HCIGFdBt8&feature=related
• Family Moschidae -musk deer
• Family Cervidae -deer, elk, caribou, moose, reindeer
• Family Antilocapridae -pronghorn
• Superfamily Bovoidea
Family Bovidae -bison, muskox, goats, sheep, antelope, cows

Grauer and Higgins 1994, Thewissen et al. 2001 (Nature) Agnarsson and May-Collado 2008

• 10.7 million people hunt Artiodactylas each year in the US.
• Millions of WTD harvested each year.
• In Alaska, around 71,000 people hunt each year.
• 22,000 Caribou are harvested each year
• 1,000 Dall sheep
• 300 Muskox
• 13,000 Sitka black-tailed deer
• 500 Mountain goat
• 10,000 Moose
• 100 Bison
• 50 Elk
USFWS = Hunting statistics,