Tag ungulate

What are the similarities and differences between the Siberian Ibex and the West Caucasian Tur?

MaNi Leave a comment

What are the similarities and differences between the Siberian Ibex (Capra sibirica) and the West Caucasian Tur (Capra caucasica caucasica)?

The Siberian Ibex and the West Caucasian Tur are both mountain goats in the Bovidae family of bovines and Capra genus of goats. The West Caucasian Tur is also known as the Caucasian Ibex. 

The Siberian Ibex and the West Caucasian Tur are both large, wild, ungulate (hoofed) mammals. 

The Siberian Ibex and the West Caucasian Tur both have ridged or ringed horns – the male has large horns and the female has much shorter horns.

Continue reading “What are the similarities and differences between the Siberian Ibex and the West Caucasian Tur?” →

The fact and fallacy about Hippo pink blood, sweat, and milk

MaNi 2 Comments

What is fact and what is fallacy about Hippo pink blood, sweat, and milk? What is pink and what is not?

The Common Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibious) is a large, semi-aquatic African even-toed ungulate (hoofed) mammal in the Hippopotamidae family.

It has a grey-brown, hairless, barrel-shaped body, with pink patches, a big head, and small stumpy legs.  

The female Hippopotamus is pregnant for eight months before giving birth to one live young at at time, called a calf. The baby Hippo is born underwater, but swims quickly to the surface to take a breath of air.

Continue reading “The fact and fallacy about Hippo pink blood, sweat, and milk” →

Why do female lions hunt instead of male lions?

MaNi Leave a comment

Why do female lions hunt instead of male lions?

The African Lion (Panthera leo) is a carnivorous – meat eating – mammal. It kills and eats ungulate mammals (animals with hooves), such as zebra, buffalo, giraffe, wildebeest, warthog, gazelle, and impala. 

Lions live in a pride, which is a group of family members consisting of 10-12 females and their male and female children, called cubs, with one to three dominant males. When male cubs grow up, they become solitary until they form their own pride.

 

Continue reading “Why do female lions hunt instead of male lions?” →

How big is a hippopotamus mouth?

MaNi Leave a comment

How big is a hippopotamus mouth?

The Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) is a large African even-toed ungulate (hoofed) mammal in the Hippopotamidae family. Hippopotamus means river horse. 

It has small ears, small eyes, and a large nose at the top of its head so that it can submerge itself underwater, with only these parts of its body showing above the water. Its head is large, with a wide mouth and canine ivory tusks.

Continue reading “How big is a hippopotamus mouth?” →

How does the Zebra repel insects?

MaNi Leave a comment

How does the Zebra repel insects?

The Common Zebra (Equus quagga, formerly Equus burchellii) is common in the treeless plains of East Africa and southern Africa. It is an ungulate (a hoofed mammal).

The Common Zebra is like a horse or pony with short legs, and is black and white striped. The stripes continue all the way to its hooves. No two Zebras are alike, because they all have slightly different markings. 

Continue reading “How does the Zebra repel insects?” →

Tushetian Sheep

MaNi Leave a comment

The Tushetian Sheep (Ovis aries musimon) is a ruminant mammal in the Bovidae family. It is an artiodactyla – an even-toed ungulate (hoofed mammal). It is a sub-species of the primitive Domestic Sheep (Ovis aries). It is similar to the Near East Sheep and it is also known as the European Mouflon.

The Tushetian Sheep has a smooth, long, well-developed woolly coat. Its face is not woolly. It has a small, fat, woolly tail. It has long ears. The male is red-brown in summer with a white saddle patch or more white areas. The female is brownish. Both the male and female are darker in winter. The male has helix-shaped horns, but the female does not have horns.

Continue reading “Tushetian Sheep” →

What is Hippo Honking?

MaNi Leave a comment

What is Hippo honking?

The Common Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibious) is a large African even-toed ungulate (hoofed) mammal.

The Common Hippo lives half in the water and half out – this is called semi-aquatic. It lives in a group of about 30 individuals, which is called a pod, herd, or bloat.

The Common Hippo makes loud vocal noises, such as grunts, honks, bellows, and squeals. 

Continue reading “What is Hippo Honking?” →

Southern Lechwe

MaNi Leave a comment

The Southern Lechwe (Kobus leche) is an ungulate (hoofed) mammal in the Bovidae family of cattle and antelopes. It is also known as the Red Lechwe.

The Southern Lechwe is golden brown with a white belly. The male is darker than the female. The male has long, spiral horns. The female does not have horns. Its hind legs (back legs) are longer than those of other antelopes – perhaps to be able to walk in the marshy soil. Its legs have a water-repellent substance on its legs, which enables it to run in knee-high water.

Continue reading “Southern Lechwe” →

What is the difference between the male and female Greater Kudu?

MaNi Leave a comment

What is the difference between the male and female Greater Kudu? 

The Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) is an ungulate (hoofed) mammal in the Bovidae family of cattle and antelopes.It is a browser, eating plants, leaves, flowers, and fruit. It is native to the bushlands of eastern and southern Africa. 

A male Greater Kuduis called a bull and a female is called a cow.

Both the male and the female Greater Kudu have a sandy-brown body with huge cupped ears, a white chevron stripe between its eyes, 6-10 vertical white stripes on its sides, a ridge of dark hair along its back, and a short, bushy black-tipped tail. 

Continue reading “What is the difference between the male and female Greater Kudu?” →

Why was the Okapi called the African Unicorn?

MaNi Leave a comment

Why was the Okapi called the African Unicorn? 

The Okapi (Okapia johnstoni) is an African ungulate (hoofed) mammal in the Giraffidae family, related to the giraffe. It has chocolate to reddish-brown fur. Its legs have white horizontal stripes with white ankles. Its face, throat, and chest are greyish white. It has a long neck and large flexible ears.

The male has two short ossicones (bony structures) on its forehead, covered in hair. They are not horns. 

Continue reading “Why was the Okapi called the African Unicorn?” →

Juvenile Arabian Oryx

MaNi Leave a comment

The Arabian Oryx (Oryx leucoryx) is an ungulate (hoofed) mammal in the Bovidae family of bovine antelopes.

The adult Arabian Oryx is whitish-cream with a shoulder bump, long straight horns, and a tufted tail. Its underbelly and legs are brown. It has black stripes where its head meets its neck, on its forehead, on its nose, and from the horns across its eyes to its mouth. Both males and females have ringed horns. 

Continue reading “Juvenile Arabian Oryx” →

What is the difference between the Brazilian Tapir and the Malayan Tapir?

MaNi Leave a comment

What is the difference between the Brazilian or Lowland Tapir (Tapirus terrestris) and the Malayan Tapir (Tapirus indicus)? 

The Brazilian Tapir and the Malayan Tapir are both ungulate (hoofed) mammals in the Tapiridae family of tapirs and bush cows. They are related to the horse and the rhinoceros.

Continue reading “What is the difference between the Brazilian Tapir and the Malayan Tapir?” →

The Saiga Antelope population is increasing in Kazakhstan

MaNi Leave a comment

The Saiga Antelope (Saiga tatarica) is a critically endangered ungulate (hoofed) mammal. 

In 2015, there was a bacterial disease that killed many Saiga Antelopes. The population decreased by 60% making it a critically endangered species.

It is native to Russia and Kazakhstan. In winter, it migrates south to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. It used to be native to a wider area across Eurasia. It prefers semi-deserts, steppes, and grasslands, and it does not like steep and mountainous regions. 

Continue reading “The Saiga Antelope population is increasing in Kazakhstan” →

Bukharan Markhor Goat – Head Butting

MaNi Leave a comment

The Bukharan Markhor (Capra falconeri heptneri) is a large species of wild goat. It is also known as the Tadjik Markhor, the Turkmenian Markhor, or the Screw Horn Goat. It is an ungulate (hoofed) mammal. 

The female Bukharan Markhor is pregnant for about 150 days (5 months), before giving birth to 1-2 live young, called kids. The photographed kids were born born 23-28 May 2020, so they are now two-and-a-half months old.

Both the male and the female have curled, corkscrew horns in a V-shape, but the male horns are much larger. 

Continue reading “Bukharan Markhor Goat – Head Butting” →

Gemsbok

MaNi Leave a comment

The Gemsbok (Oryx gazelle) is a large ungulate (hoofed) mammal. It is an antelope. It is also called the Oryx Gazelle, Gemsbuck, or South African Oryx. 

The Gemsbok has light-brownish-grey fur with lighter patches towards it rear. It has a black stripe from its chin to the lower edge of its neck, and to its shoulder and legs. Its tail is long and black. It has a muscular neck and shoulders. Its legs have white ‘socks’ with a black patch on the front of its front legs. Both the male and the female have long, straight horns. The female has longer, thinner horns than the male. 

Continue reading “Gemsbok” →