A horse, a rhinoceros, a hippopotamus, a giraffe, a deer ... What do you think that 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 Mammals class.
Ungulates: common symptoms
Toes of this group of animals are covered with horn formations - hoofs. This determines their name. The basis of the diet of ungulates is plant food. In this regard, they have well developed molars with a folded surface and incisors. They serve to grind food. The ability to run fast, relying on fingers, is another sign that characterizes these animals. Ungulates also have a special structure of the belt of the upper extremities - they have no developed clavicles.
Detachment
Representatives of this group are quite diverse animals. Ungulates are combined in two orders. In the former, the number of fingers on the limb is equal to one or three. These are representatives of the Equidiby squad. Modern taxonomy has 16 species of such animals. The most common of them are zebra, horse, kulan, donkey, rhino. Their stomach has a simple structure, therefore, bacteria living in the large intestine take part in the digestion of plant foods.
Ruminant Artiodactyls
Representatives of the artiodactyl squad are distinguished by structural features of the digestive system. Pigs and hippos are non-ruminant. 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.
Non-ruminant representatives are widely known. For example, a large ungulate animal is a wild boar, or a pig. It is easy to recognize by its elongated face with a bare nickle around the nostrils. With its help, the animal digs the earth, getting food. The wild boar lives mainly in oak and beech humid forests, dense thickets of shrubs.
Another striking example of non-ruminant ungulates is the hippopotamus, or hippo. This is a real giant, whose weight reaches more than three tons. His thick skin needs constant hydration. Therefore, hippos lead a semi-aquatic lifestyle. They are common in the tropical parts of East and Central Africa. However, as a result of poaching extermination, they can most often be found in protected areas.
Ruminant Artiodactyls
These are also ungulates, but their distinctive feature is the special structure of the digestive system. So, with the help of sharp incisors cut edible parts of plants. Chemical treatment is carried out by saliva, and further mechanical grinding is carried out with flat molars.
The ruminant stomach consists of four specialized departments. The first, and most voluminous of them, is called a scar. Enzymatic processing of food takes place in it. These substances are found in saliva and are secreted by special types of symbiotic bacteria that live in the stomach.
Then the food enters the net, and the animals burp it again into the oral cavity. Here chewing gum forms. She is again moistened with saliva, chewed, and then sent to the third part of the stomach - a book.
This part is not so named. Its walls have folds that are really visually similar to the pages of a book. From here, partially digested food enters the last section, which is called the "abomasum", where it is finally broken down by the action of gastric juice. Ruminants include giraffes, bulls, moose, goats, roe deer, bison, deer.
Ungulate domestic animal
Many species of ungulates are of great economic importance. The most striking example of this is the almost universal development of pig farming. Man began to breed this animal before BC. e. during the period of the primitive communal layer. This direction has reached wide distribution due to high indicators of productivity, energy value, unpretentiousness to climatic conditions. Pig breeding is a leading industry in livestock breeding in China, Japan, Korea, Germany, Great Britain, France, Russia, Ukraine.
"Drink, children, milk - be healthy!" Each of us remembers these lines that are familiar to everyone from childhood. A cow is another large ungulate domestic animal that a person widely uses in his economic activities. They breed it to obtain not only meat and milk, but also valuable skin. Man began to domesticate cows in the Neolithic era, but still in some countries they are considered sacred animals. The world leaders in the production of beef are the United States, Brazil, China, Argentina, Russia.
So, ungulates are called animals in which the 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, they are distinguished unpaired - and artiodactyls.