Hoofed Mammals
Chapter 7
PeccaryFamily: Tayassuidae
Collared Peccary(Pecari tajacu) Also called:
Mexican HogBehavior:• Live up to groups of one to 20 individuals• Diurnal- might be nocturnal(Active at night) or
active primarily during twilight or dusk or dawn)• Sleep at night in burrows often under the roots
of trees• If feel threated, they defend themselves with
there long tusks which they sharpen themselves.
Range:• North, South and South America• Live in Deserts, Scrublands, tropical,
Subtropical, grasslands• Notable population are known in suburbs of
Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona
.
Physical:• 20-24 inches tall at the shoulder and about 1-
1.5 inches long(40-60 inches)• Weight- 14-31 kg / 31-68 lb.• They have a brown, black coat that is bristly
Food:• Fruit• Roots• Tuber(potatoes, onions)• Palm nuts• Grasses• Small vertebrates• Tulip bulbs• Eggs• Carrion
Reproduction:• Gestation Period: 141-151 days.• Young per Birth: 1-5 • Weaning: At 2-3 months.• Sexual Maturity: females at 8-14 months, males at 11
months. • Life span: 24 years
White-Lipped Peccary(Tayassu pecari)Behavior:• Can give birth to two peccaries at a time• Live in herds up to 20-300 individuals• Predators- Jaguar, Puma, Boa Constrictors• It performs all its actions at night • When feel threated they will let off a loud “bark”
and show there teeth to avoid conflict
Range:• Central and South America
• Dry Savannas, Humid Tropical Rain Forest
Physical:• White marking below snout to the cheek
• Brown and Black- Bristly Hairs running down the spine growing longer than the sides and forming an crest which is raised when the peccary becomes excited.
• When standing up they get excited• Adult weight: 25-40 kg• Head- Dark Brown which makes the white marking around the jaw
stand out
Food:• Fruit Nuts• Vegetation• Small Amounts of animal matters
Reproduction:• Gestation period: 156-162 days• Litter size: 2, sometimes 1 or 3. • Weaning: By 6 months. • Sexual maturity: Between 1 and 2 years of age. • Life span: Up to 13 years. • Babies weight over 1kg when born• Babies- Reddish Brown, with a dark stripe running down there backs• Just before birth, the female leaves the group giving birth alone in a cave.
After one day she then rejoins the group.
Range:• Gran Chaco of Paraguay, Bolivia and
Northern Argentina
Behavior:• Travel in herds up to 20 • Communicate ranging from using there
grunts to chattering the teeth• Love to charge things and bit things• Produce a milk, that is used for marking
trees, shrubs, and similar objects• Bath in the mud or dust
Chacoan peccary(Catagonus wagneri)
Physical:
Food:
• Well know for its rough leathery snout• The bristle-like fur is generally brown to almost gray• A dark stripe runs across the back, and white fur is on the shoulders.• Longer ears, snout, tail• Three Hind Toe• Sprays secretions from their dorsal glands• Young are generally born between the months of September and December, but
litters have been found almost year-round• Weight- 30-43 kg / 66-95 lb.
• Cacti• Flowers• Seeds• Fruit Nuts• Anything they can get
there mouth on
Reproduction:• Gestation Period: 5 months.• Young per Birth: 1-4 • Sexual Maturity: Minimum breeding age is thought to be 3 years.• Most births occur between September and November.
Bison• American Bison• Family - Bovidae • Genus - Bison
Physical Features• Height 6 – 6.5 ft. at shoulder• Length 10 – 12.5 ft.• Weight 900 – 2000 lbs., males are just a smidge larger than
females.• Lifespan is about 18 – 22 years and in captivity they live to
be about 30 years old.• They have a long, shaggy, dark brown winter coat and
during summer the buffaloes coat is not as heavy and lighter brown.
Range• Bison once roamed across the great planes
until they started to go extinct. Now they are mostly found in national and protected parks around the eastern United States.
• This bison is what you would call a keystone species, meaning an ecosystem may experience a dramatic shift if a keystone species is removed, the bison helped shape the Great Planes to what they look like today.
Fun Fact!
• Trails carved by animals like bison and deer in their seasonal migrations formed some of the earliest traceable paths into the American wilderness and were followed by native Americans, explorers and pioneers.
Food
• Bison eat grasses and sedges.
Behavior• Bison mostly graze all day and play
around and the females usually lead the herds.
• The males sort of break off of the group then rejoin during mating season.
• Mating season is between June and September and they have a gestation period of 270-285 days.
Genus: AntilocapraSpecies: Americana
PRONGHORN
Characteristics
●Body shape of a deer, with long tail, and long snout.
●Fur is redish brown, but can also be tan or dark brown.
●White face on stomach face and butt.
●Short horns on top of head.
●4 ½ feet long, 3 feet tall.
●Weighs between 90-150 pounds
Unique Adaptations
• Pronghorns have large eyes that have really good vision. The vision allows them to spot predators from far away.
Diet
• Herbivore • Grasses• Forbs• Sagebrush• Seldom drink waterDigests food twice.
Habitat
• Open plains, fields, grasslands, brush, desert, and basins
Range
• Only found in North America
Reproduction
• Mate during late summer or fall depending on location.
• Give birth in spring.• 1-2 fawns per birth.
Pronghorn
Pronghorn Buck• Modified horn made of
keratin• Outer sheath sheds
annually and regenerates to a larger size
• Both males and females have modified horns
Pronghorn Doe and Fawns
Alarm Odor from Rump
Pronghorn migration in Wyoming
Pronghorn migration
• Pronghorn may travel over 100 miles to migrate between summer and winter range
• Winter range is typically lower elevation sage- steppe habitat
• Pronghorn move to summer range at higher elevations to locate green vegetation
Migration in Grand Tetons
Fence Crossing
Migration Video
• http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/blogwild/2009/09/pronghorn-passage.html
Moose
Family: CervidaeGenus: Alces
Species: Alces Alces
Subspecies
There are three main subspecies in the Northwestern portion of the United States.
• Yukon/Alaska Moose• Canada Moose• Shiras Moose
Yukon/Alaska Moose
Canada Moose
Shiras Moose
Eating Habits
• Eats many leafy shrubs.• Consumes twigs and leaves.• Will even eat aquatic plants.
Habitat
• Prefers Dense forest (taiga.)• Also lives in open “forest-tundra.”• Likes to be close to lakes or ponds.• Can also live in other habitats.
Reproduction
• Reproduces yearly in Spring.• 1-2 calves (possibly 3.)• Will abandon previous calves right before next
mating season.
Sources
• Runtz, Michael. "Moose Diet" Mooseworld. N.p., 22 Apr 2001. Web. 14 Feb 2013. <http://www.mooseworld.com/diet.htm>.
• Runtz, Michael. “Moose Habitat" Mooseworld. N.p., 22 Apr 2001. Web. 14 Feb 2013. <http://www.mooseworld.com/diet.htm>.
• Zegarelli, Clare. "Moose." Pocantico Hills. Pocantico Hills, 10 Dec 2011. Web. 14 Feb 2013. <http://www.pocanticohills.org/cook/7thgrade/moose.htm>.
Shiras Bull Moose
Alaska-Yukon Moose
Canada Moose
Cow Moose
Cow and Calf Moose
Winter Tick
Hair Loss Caused by Ticks
Isle Royale Moose
Winter Tick Life Cycle
Rocky Mountain, Roosevelt’s, Tule, Manitoban
Elk - Cervus canadensis
Terminology
• Bull: Male Elk• Cow: Female Elk• Calf: Baby Elk• Spike: Young Bull Elk
Size & Weight
• Newborn calf: about 35lbs• Cow: around 500lbs (Tule: 300 & Roosevelt’s:
600lbs) about 4 ½ feet to the shoulders, 6 ½ from nose to tail.
• Bull: around 700lbs (Tule: 400lbs & Roosevelt’s: 900lbs) about 5 feet to the shoulders, 8 feet nose to tail.
Color
• Summer: copper brown • Fall, winter, spring: light tan• Rump patch: light beige• Legs & neck: darker than rest of body
Birth Cycle
• Babies are born usually in late may through early june.
• Babies are born with spots and without a sent so predators cant smell them.
• First few weeks they hide while there mom feeds them.
• Breed in the fall
Diet
• Summer: grasses and forbs• Spring & Fall: grasses• Winter: grasses, shrubs, tree barks and twigs• They have four chambered stomachs
facts
• A Bull will gather calves and cows in groups called harems.
• Bulls will roll in mud to coat themselves and urine to attract cows.
• They rub trees, shrubs, and the ground to also attract cows.
Range
• Before the European settlement there was 10 million elk that roamed the U.S. and today there is 1 million that roam - western United States, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina, Canada, and Alaska.
Habitat
• Food, water, shelter and space are needed for elk to survive.
• They live in rainforests, alpine meadows, dry desert valleys, and hardwood forests.
Bugling Bull Elk
Cow Elk
Elk Calf
Elk Herd
Elk Rub
Elk Wallow
Elk Subspecies
• 1. Eastern –Extinct- once lived in eastern US• 2. Merriam-Extinct-once lived in southwest US• 3. Rocky Mountain- Rocky Mt. States• 4. Roosevelt- West Coast- US- Cascade Mts. • 5. Tule- Small population in CA• 6. Manitoban- Saskatchewan/Manitoba
Provinces in Canada
Rocky Mountain Elk (Idaho)
Roosevelt Elk (Coastal OR/WA)
Tule Elk (California)
Tule Elk Video
• http://www.nps.gov/pore/photosmultimedia/multimedia_docvids.htm#CP_JUMP_285548
Manitoban Elk (Canada)
Caribou
• Family: Cervidae• Genus: Rangifer• Species: R. tarandus
• Height: 4 ft. tall at the shoulder.• Length: 6 ft. • Weight: 250-700 pounds, males are larger then females.• Lifespan: 10-15 years in wild.• Caribou have compact bodies, small tails, and short
ears. • Body temperature is set at 105 degrees Farenheit. • Caribou have two layers of fur, fine-crinkly under-fur
and a thick coat of guard hairs on top.
Description:
• Caribou are a member of the deer family and are adapted to cope with harsh winter conditions.
• Their large concave hooves allow them to travel in deep snow conditions.
• Woodland Caribou is one of the most critically endangered mammals in the U.S., with only a few found south of the Canada border a year.
• Caribou are also excellent swimmers.
Unique Adaptations:
• Known to eat shrubs, grasses and willows. • They also eat lichen but it takes about 80-150
years for it to grow in the forests.
Food:
• Very well known throughout Alaska and Northern Canada.
• There are about 950,000 in the world today.
Barren Ground Caribou:
• Been reduced to one tiny population in U.S., in far Northern Idaho and Northeastern Washington.
• There known as the International Selkirk population, they are extremely rare with only about 40 left in the world.
• Live in forests from Maine to Washington State, but have gone down to a small herd in the Selkirk Mountains of Northern Idaho, Eastern Washington, and British Columbia.
Woodland Caribou:
• Mating Season is from early to mid October.• Gestation period is from October to early
June. • They only have 1 offspring at a time.
Reproduction:
Woodland Caribou Bull
Woodland Caribou Cow
Barren-Ground Caribou Bull
Barren-Ground Caribou Cow
Caribou Videos
• http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/woodland_caribou.php
http://
dsc.discovery.com/videos/planet-earth-plains-following-the-caribou.html
Whitetail Deer Buck (Summer coat)
Single Beam with Tines
Whitetail Deer Doe (Winter coat)
Whitetail Fawn
White tail flag
Mule Deer Buck
Branching Antlers
White rump with black tipped tail
Mule Deer Doe
SHEEP
Female Sheep –Ewes
Baby Sheep- Lambs
Male sheep-Rams
Groups of sheep- Flock
Anatomy• Ruminants– 4 chambered stomach– They are very selective in grazing habits• They have a split in their upper lip
Behavior• Sheep Are precocial, gregarious animals– Precocial- High Degree of independence at birth– Gregarious- Flock together, to be in a group
Reproduction• Sheep give birth once a year and have 1-3
lambs.• Pregnancy last 147 days• Sheep Usually live to be about 8 years old– Some can live up to 20
• Lambs have a strong bond with their mothers. – They can identify her by her bleat.
Lambs• 2 months– They grow 8 temporary incisors
• 12 months to 4 years– Incisors are replaced by larger and wider incisors– Eventually have all their teeth • Sheep don’t have top front teeth
• The sheep that we see originated from these wild sheep.• Mouflon (Europe and Western Asia)• Urial (Asia)• Argali (Asia)• Bighorn (Asia and North America)
• The common sheep in the U.S are:• Rocky Mountain Bighorn• Jacob Sheep
Different Types of Sheep
Mouflon
Urial
Argali
Bighorn
Rocky Mountain Bighorn• Rocky Mountain bighorns inhabit the mountains from
Canada south to New Mexico.
• Eat available grass, seeds, and plants
• Size: 5 to 6 ft (1.5 to 1.8 m)
• Weight:117 to 279 lbs (53 to 127 kg)
Geographical Range
• The Sheep Range lies in a generally north-south direction.
Jacob Sheep• Description: A domestic sheep breed, Jacob sheep are known for their black-
and-white spotted wool coats.• Range: The Jacob sheep has been bred around the globe. The breed was originally
developed in England.
• Habitat: Jacob sheep graze grasslands, fields and other pastures.
• Ewes: range from 80 to 140 pounds
• Rams: obtain weights approaching 200 pounds