Chevrotain
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 Tragulus kanchil
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Chevrotain and mouse deer are common names for any of the small ruminant mammals) comprising the family Tragulidae of the suborder Ruminantia and order Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates). They are found in parts of southeastern Asia and Afria and are characterized by delicately built hoofs, adn males with small, curved, downward protruding tusts,
smallest of hoofed mammals very slender legs, small feet, tapered snout, lackantlers but have tusklike upper annine teeth, usually solitary and notrunal behavior primarily herbirous hairless muzzels three-cambered stomach solitary
Other species are sometimes called deer, but are not true deer in that they do not belong to the Cervidae family. The similar musk deer of the Moschidae family and the mouse deer of the Tragulidae family do not have antlers.
True deer (plural and singular) are the members of the Cervidae family of the order Artiodactyla, or even-toed hoofed mammals
There are 10 living (extant) species in three genera,[1][2] but there are also several species only known from fossils.[3] The extant species are found in forests in South and Southeast Asia, with a single species in the rainforests of Central and West Africa.[4] They are solitary or live in pairs, and feed almost exclusively on plant material.[4] Depending on exact species, the Asian species weigh between 0.7 and 8.0 kilograms (1.5 and 18 lb), and the smallest species are also the smallest ungulates in the world.[4] The African chevrotain is considerably larger at 7–16 kilograms (15–35 lb).[5]
Overview
Other species are sometimes called deer, but are not true deer in that they do not belong to the Cervidae family. The similar musk deer of the Moschidae family and the mouse deer of the Tragulidae family do not have antlers.
True deer (plural and singular) are the members of the Cervidae family of the order Artiodactyla, or even-toed hoofed mammals, with two large and two small hooves on each foot. The deer family, Cervidae, includes elk, moose, caribou or reindeer, muntjac, red deer, and white-tailed deer, among others. A characteristic of deer is that almost all species have antlers, a biological structure that is unique to deer. Other ruminants have horns. Antlers consist of bony outgrowths from the head with no covering of keratin as is found in true horns.
They are even-toed ungulates. Even-toed ungulate is the common name for any of the hoofed, mostly herbivorous, terrestrial mammals comprising the order Artiodactyla, characterized by a double-pulley astragalus (a bone in the ankle joint) and an even number of functional toes (two or four), with the main limb axis passing between the middle two digits. Artiodactyls include such well-known members as pigs, peccaries, hippopotamuses, camels, chevrotains (mouse deers), deer, giraffes, pronghorns, antelopes, sheep, goats, and cattle. Artiodactyla is one of two living orders of ungulates (hoofed mammals), the other being Perissodactyla, the odd-toed ungulates.
They are mmembers of the Ruminantia suborder, they are ruminants; that is, they digest their food in two steps, first by eating the raw material and regurgitating a semi-digested form known as cud, then by eating the cud, a process called ruminating. Other ruminants include cattle, goats, bison, and antelope, as well as camels and llamas, which are members of the Tylopoda suborder.
Etymology
The word 'chevrotain' itself is French, and can be translated as 'little goat'.
The single African species is consistently known as chevrotain.[1][4][6] The names chevrotain and mouse-deer have been used interchangeably among the Asian species,[4][7][8][9] though recent authorities typically have preferred chevrotain for the species in the genus Moschiola and mouse-deer for the species in the genus Tragulus.[1] Consequently, all species with pale-spotted or -striped upperparts are known as chevrotains, and all the species without are known as mouse-deer.
The Telugu name for the Indian Spotted Chevrotain is "Jarini Pandi", which literally means "a deer and a pig".[citation needed] The Konkani name for it is "Barinka".
The Sinhala name meeminna roughly translates to 'mouse-like deer'. This was used in the scientific name of one of the Sri Lankan species, M. meminna.
Biology
The family was widespread and successful from the Oligocene (34 million years ago) through the Miocene (about 5 million years ago), but has remained almost unchanged over that time and remains as an example of primitive ruminant form. They have a four-chambered stomach to ferment tough plant foods, but the third chamber is poorly developed. Though most species feed exclusively on plant material, the Water Chevrotain occasionally takes insects and crabs, or scavenge meat and fish.[10] Like other ruminants, they lack upper incisors, and give birth to only a single young.
In other respects, however, they have primitive features, closer to non-ruminants such as pigs. All species in the family lack horns, but both genders have elongated canine teeth. These are especially prominent in males where they project out on either side of the lower jaw, and are used in fights.[4] Their legs are short and thin, which leave them lacking in agility, but also helps to maintain a smaller profile to aid in running through the dense foliage of their environment. Other pig-like features include the presence of four toes on each foot, the absence of facial scent glands, premolars with sharp crowns, and the form of their sexual behaviour and copulation.[11]
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They are solitary or live in pairs.[4] The young are weaned at three months of age, and reach sexual maturity between five and ten months, depending on species. Parental care is relatively limited. Although they lack the types of scent glands found in most other ruminants, they do possess a chin gland for marking each other as mates or antagonists, and, in the case of the water chevrotain, anal and preputial glands for marking territory. Their territories are relatively small, on the order of 13-24 hectares, but neighbors generally ignore each other, rather than competing aggressively.[11]
Some of the species show a remarkable affinity with water, often remaining submerged for prolonged periods to evade predators or other unwelcome intrusion. This has also lent support to the idea that whales evolved from water-loving creatures that looked like small deer.[12]
Taxonomy
Traditionally, only four extant species were recognized in the family Tragulidae.[4] In 2004, T. nigricans and T. versicolor were split from T. napu, and T. kanchil and T. williamsoni were split from T. javanicus.[13] In 2005, M. indica and M. kathygre were split from M. meminna.[2] With these changes, there are 10 extant species:
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- SUBORDER RUMINANTIA
- Family Tragulidae
- Genus Hyemoschus
- Water Chevrotain, Hyemoschus aquaticus
- Genus Moschiola
- Indian Spotted Chevrotain, Moschiola indica
- Sri Lankan Spotted Chevrotain, Moschiola meminna
- Yellow-striped Chevrotain, Moschiola kathygre
- Genus Tragulus
- Java Mouse-deer, Tragulus javanicus
- Lesser Mouse-deer or Kanchil, Tragulus kanchil
- Greater Mouse-deer, Tragulus napu
- Philippine Mouse-deer, Tragulus nigricans
- Vietnam Mouse-deer, Tragulus versicolor
- Williamson's Mouse-deer, Tragulus williamsoni
- Genus Hyemoschus
- Family Moschidae: musk deer
- Family Cervidae: deer
- Family Giraffidae: giraffe and okapi
- Family Antilocapridae: pronghorn
- Family Bovidae: cattle, goats, sheep, and antelope
- Family Tragulidae
Ancient chevrotains
There are 6 extinct chevrotains genera[3] including:
- Genus Dorcatherium
- Genus Dorcabune
- Genus Afrotragulus Sánchez, Quiralte, Morales and Pickford, 2010 [15]
- Genus Siamotragulus
- Genus Yunnanotherium
- Genus Archaeotragulus[16]
- Genus Krabitherium
The Hypertragulidae were closely related to the Tragulidae.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 (2005) Mammal Species of the World, 3rd, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Groves, C., and E. Meijaard (2005). Intraspecific variation in Moschiola, the Indian Chevrotain. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. Supplement 12: 413-421
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Farooq, U., Khan, M.A., Akhtar, M. and Khan, A.M. 2008. Lower dentition of Dorcatherium majus (Tragulidae, Mammalia) in the Lower and Middle Siwaliks (Miocene) of Pakistan. Tur. J. Zool., 32: 91-98. http://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/zoology/issues/zoo-08-32-1/zoo-32-1-14-0612-5.pdf
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Nowak, R. M. (eds) (1999). Walker's Mammals of the World. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press.
- ↑ UltimateUngulate: Hyemoschus aquaticus. Accessed 12 October 2010.
- ↑ IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group (2008). Hyemoschus aquaticus. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 12 October 2010..
- ↑ IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group (2008). Moschiola indica. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 12 October 2010..
- ↑ IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group (2008). Moschiola kathygre. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 12 October 2010..
- ↑ IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group (2008). Moschiola meminna. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 12 October 2010..
- ↑ Kingdon, J. (1997). The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals. Academic Press. ISB 0-12-408355-2
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Dubost, G. (1984). in Macdonald, D.: The Encyclopedia of Mammals. New York: Facts on File, 516–517. ISBN 0-87196-871-1.
- ↑ "Aquatic deer and ancient whales", BBC News, 2009-07-07. Retrieved 2010-03-26.
- ↑ Meijaard, I., and C. P. Groves (2004). A taxonomic revision of the Tragulus mouse-deer. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 140: 63-102.
- ↑ E. Thenius 1950. Über die Sichtung und Bearbeitung der jungtertiären Säugetierreste aus dem Hausruck und Kobernaußerwald (O.Ö.) in Verh. Geol. B.-A. 51/2, pp 56
- ↑ Israel M. Sánchez; Victoria Quiralte; Jorge Morales; Martin Pickford (2010). A new genus of tragulid ruminant from the early Miocene of Kenya. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 55 (2): 177–187.
- ↑ Métais, G., Chaimanee, Y., Jaeger, J.-J. & Ducrocq S. 2001. New remains of primitive ruminants from Thailand: evidence of the early evolution of the Ruminantia in Asia. Zoologica Scripta. 30, 231-248. http://www.thaiscience.info/Article%20for%20ThaiScience/Article/5/Ts-5%20new%20remains%20of%20primitive%20ruminants%20from%20thailand%20evidence%20of%20the%20early%20evolution%20of%20the%20ruminantia%20in%20asia.pdf
- ↑ Terry A. Vaughan,James M. Ryan,Nicholas J. Czaplewski. Mammalogy, 5th. ISBN 9780-7637-6299-5. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
- ↑ http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.4202/app.2009.0087
- ↑ http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=basicTaxonInfo&taxon_no=116983
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