Ruminantia

Taxobox
name = Ruminantia
fossil_range = Late Eocene? to Recent

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image_width = 200px
image_caption = White-tailed Deer
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Artiodactyla
subordo = Ruminantia
subordo_authority = Scopoli, 1777
subdivision_ranks = Families
subdivision = Tragulidae
Moschidae
Cervidae
Giraffidae
Antilocapridae
BovidaeThe 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, a suborder known as Tylopoda. 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 and peccaries
** Suborder Tylopoda: camels and llamas
** Suborder Whippomorpha: whales and hippopotamus
** 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, 49 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, 135 living species in 48 genera
**** Family †Gelocidae
**** Family †Climacoceratidae
**** Family †Palaeomerycidae
**** Family †Hoplitomerycidae