Wildlife 1 Flashcards
When did animals life first appear?
600 million years ago.
What is the cambrian explosion?
The first time in history we see a large amount and diversity of animals appear
What are characteristics of ungulates
Hooved
Horns
Herbivores
Prey species
Usually ruminants
Long legs
What is digitigrade locomotion?
Up on toes, tensions can be loaded with bounding energy, allows quicker locomotion.
Less load bearing, longer stride
What is unguligrade locomotion?
Up on toenails, robust hooves, longest stride. Adaptation to elude predators with digitigrade locomotion.
What are hooves an adaptation for?
Moving quickly, escape from predators.
What is non stereoscopic vision?
Adapted to maximize the field of view. Predator detection.
Poor at depth of perception compared to stereoscocpic field of vision.
Gives near 360 degree view but poor area of overlap.
Pupil shape tends to be horizontal for range of vision.
What was the common ancestors of ungulates?
Protungulatum
Diversified into two main groups
Artiodactyla and perissodactyla
What is the difference between Artiodactyla versus Perissodactyla?
What is the difference between Artiodactyla versus Perissodactyla
Even toes, 200 plus species vs odd toed, approx 20 species.
Why are there fewer Perissodactyls?
Hind gut fermentation.
Their stomach is small, tiny. Small intestine small too.
Large intestine is the major site of digestion.
Advantage of this is food passes quickly. Means eating more for energy, not efficient at extracting nutrients.
Works well in low quality forage areas, ie woody shrublands. Not an advantage where high quality forage exists.
What did climate cooling impact ungulate populations?
20 million years ago as the climate cooled forage lands became more high quality, and the environmental selection for hind gut fermenting ungulates was reduced.
What makes an Artiodactyls?
Complex stomach, foregut fermenter, often four chambers.
Food is regurgitated and chewed a second time, swallowed a second time.
Food has long gut retention time and has to eat high quality forage.
What are antilocapridae?
One species in genus
Pronghorn deer
One of the fastest land animals in the world.
Used to be in the okanogan sagebrush habitats.
What are bovidae?
4 species in western Canada
Blunt, rounded faces
Often sexually dimorphic
Has horns
Horns = permanent, live boney core with keratin sheath, have growth rings.
American Bison, Thinhorn sheep
What are the two species of bison? (Bovids)
Plains bison (bison bison bison) and Wood bison (Bison bison athabascae)
Plains = smaller, more southern, less prominent shoulder hump, distinct cape boundary, frizzy hair
Woods = more northern, larger, prominent hump,no cape boundary, floppy hair on forehead.
What are the two species of Thinhorn sheep? (Bovidae)
Stone sheep:
Doll sheep:
What defines a big horn sheep? (Bovidae)
Ovis canadensis
Distinct white muzzle and rump
Horns don’t flare like Thinhorn sheep
Most southern distributed in NA
Three subspecies in north America, only one native to Canada
(O.C. Canadensis)
What defines a mountain goat (Bovidae)
Oreamnos americanus
Only wild goat in North America
Distinct shaggy white coat
Reduced horns compared wild sheep species
Very little sexual dimorphisms
Lives in extreme vertical environments.
What are cervidae?
Deer species, thinner than bovids
Prominent ears
Really pronounced sexual dimorphism
Have antlers:
Deciduous
Bone growth growth with vascularized velvet
Almost always grown only by males.
Some species of deer dissolve their ribs for the calcium cost to grow their antlers
What defines moose? (Cervidae)
Largest deer in the world.
8 subspecies globally, 4 in north America, 3 in B?C
Males have palmate antlers
Both sexes have a dewlap
What defines elk? (Cervidae)
9 species globally, 4 in north America, 2 in BC
Characteristic dark mane and pale white rump
Males have large dendritic antlers that are swept back
Very gregarious, forms big herds
What defines Mule Deer?(Cervidae)
10 subspecies across north America
Male antlers fork into equal beams - equal ys
Particularly prominent ears
White rump, thin tail, black tip at the end
What defines white tailed deer? (Cervidae)
34 subspecies in the America’s, all the way down to the Andes
Male antlers have a main beam and lesser times coming off of it
Relatively small ears
Limited white on rump but large tail with white underside, flagging behavior.
What defines a caribou (cervidae)
10 subspecies world wide, but debated
Only deer species where female grow antlers
Highly dependent on old growth forest and lichens for summer forage
Critically endangered, controversial predator culls.
