Artiodactyl Ungulates. mammals Vertebrates animal Kingdom. Wildlife. Fauna. Zoology. Fauna. Natural Patrimony Aragonese. Aragon. Spain.

Artiodactyl Ungulates. mammals Vertebrates animal Kingdom. Wildlife. Fauna. Zoology.

Aragon > Naturräume in Aragon > Fauna

Artiodactyl Ungulates

Mammals that have an even number of hooves in each of their limbs belong to this group. Other ungulates, the Perisodáctilos, have the odd number of hooves, but in Spain they are only represented by a domestic species: the horse.

Ungulates are medium and large-sized animals, adapted to the race. For this, the number of fingers on which the weight of the body rests has been reduced to one (Periodactyls) or two (Artiodactyls), although there may be other fingers that are little or not at all functional.

Phytophagous

Being almost exclusively phytophagous, most ungulates lack strong canines with which to attack or defend themselves. Instead they have developed bone structures in the head, the horns, which can be persistent (antlers or true horns) or chaedizos (horns) in this case renewing each year.

Among the Iberian Artiodactyls, the exception is wild boar, with powerful fangs and lacking horns. Of the remaining, the cervids have horns and bovid antlers.

Ruminate

Another peculiar character of the mammals of this group, with the exception of wild boars (Suidos family), is the Rumia. This is that the food, after being swallowed in the field in large quantities and in a short time, in order to shun predators, is later returned to the mouth to be chewed more intensely. This second process takes place when the animals rest calmly and safely. The stomach of ruminants is divided into several portions, usually four.

Sexual dimorphism

In general, the Artiodactyls show sexual dimorphism, the males being greater than the females and with better developed defenses (in the females of the cervids they are totally lacking).

In Spain there are currently seven species of Artiodactyls:

FAMILYSPECIES
SuidosSus scrofa: Wild pig
CérvidosCervus elaphus: Common deer
Dama dama: Fallow deer
Capreolus capreolus: Roe deer
BóvidosRupricapra rupricapra: Gamuza or Rebeco
Capra pyrenaica: Mountain goat
Ovis Ammon: Muflon


Other information about fauna in Aragón:

A small list of species in Aragon would be the following:

Vertebrates Invertebrates

Mammals

Birds

Reptiles

Amphibians

Fishes

Metazoans

Protozoa

   images about the fauna in Aragon.
   photographs on invertebrates.
   beneficial animals for agriculture.