Bosom

The family of bovids includes 140 species, ranging from a 5-pound dikdik to a 1000-pound bison. An important difference is the horns: they are almost always one pair (the exception is the genus of four-horned antelopes ), and the length can be from 2 cm to 1.5 meters. In some species, horns are found only in males, but in most they are found in both sexes. These are bone structures firmly connected to the skull . In contrast to deer and pronghorn , the horns of bovids are never branched.

The largest representative of the family is gaur (growth at the withers up to 2.2 m and weighing more than a ton), and the smallest is a dwarf antelope (weighs no more than 3 kg and is the size of a large domestic cat).

The majority of bovids live in open areas. The African savannahs are an ideal living space for many species. There are also species living in mountainous terrain or in forests.

Most members of the family are herbivores , although some antelopes can also eat animal food. Like other ruminants , bovids have a four-chamber stomach, which allows them to digest plant foods, such as herbs , which cannot be used as food by many other animals. Such food contains a lot of cellulose , and not all animals are able to digest it. However, the digestive system of ruminants, of which all are gentle, are able to digest such food.

Horns are attached to the protruding frontal bone. The length and width are different (girth of argali horns, for example, is 50 cm). The horns of the canopies grow all their lives, but never branch. Consist of a substance of epidermal origin. Mostly horns are used by males in skirmishes with relatives.

Historically, bovids are a relatively young group of animals. The most ancient fossils, which can be reliably attributed to the gentle , are the genus Eotragus from the Miocene . These animals resembled modern crested dukers , were no more than roe deer and had very small horns. Even during the Miocene, this genus was divided, and in the Pleistocene all the important lines of modern bovids were already represented. In the Pleistocene, the canopies migrated over the then existing natural bridge from Eurasia to North America . Horned animals did not naturally make their way to South America and Australia , but domesticated species today exist in almost all countries of the world.

According to geneticists, the time of separation of ruminants ( Ruminantia ) into bovids ( Bovidae ) and giraffes ( Giraffidae ) dates back to 28.7 million years ago ( Oligocene ) ^[1] .

The white bones are currently divided into eight subfamilies ^[2] :

• Subfamily Aepycerotinae - Impala
• Subfamily Alcelaphinae - Bubals, or cow antelopes
• Subfamily Antilopinae - Real Antelopes
• Subfamily Bovinae - Bulls and horn antelopes
• Subfamily Caprinae - Goats
• Subfamily Cephalophinae - Dukers
• Hippotraginae Subfamily - Saberhorn Antelopes
• Subfamily Reduncinae - Water Goats

This family also includes fossil genera:

• † Pachytragus