Ruminantia

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iRuminantia Fossil range: Late Eocene? to Recent
White-tailed Deer
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Artiodactyla Suborder: Ruminantia Scopoli, 1777
Families
Tragulidae  Moschidae  Cervidae  Giraffidae  Antilocapridae  Bovidae

The biological suborder Ruminantia includes many of the well-known large grazing or browsing mammals: among them cattle, goats, sheep, deer, and antelope. All members of the Ruminantia are ruminants: they digest food in two steps, chewing and swallowing in the normal way to begin with, and then regurgitating the semi-digested cud to re-chew it and thus extract the maximum possible food value.

Note that not all ruminants belong to the Ruminantia. Camels and llamas are among the exceptions. Also, there are a number of other large grazing mammals that, while not strictly ruminants, have similar adaptations for surviving on large quantities of low-grade food. Kangaroos and horses are examples.

• ORDER ARTIODACTYLA
  • Suborder Suina: pigs, hippos and peccaries
  • Suborder Tylopoda: camels and llamas
  • Suborder Ruminantia
    • Family †Amphimerycidae
    • Infraorder Tragulina (paraphyletic)
      • Family †Prodremotheriidae
      • Family †Hypertragulidae
      • Family †Praetragulidae
      • Family Tragulidae: chevrotains, 6 living species in 4 genera
      • Family †Leptomerycidae
      • Family †Archaeomerycidae
      • Family †Lophiomerycidae
    • Infraorder Pecora
      • Family Moschidae: musk deer, 4 living species in one genus
      • Family Cervidae: deer, 43 living species in 16 genera
      • Family Giraffidae: giraffe and okapi, 2 living species in 2 genera
      • Family Antilocapridae: pronghorn, one living species in one genus
      • Family Bovidae: cattle, goats, sheep, and antelope, 131 living species in 51 genera