
Don E. Wilson;Russell A. Mittermeier
Antilocapridae
Sign in to saveThe Antilocapridae are a family of ruminant artiodactyls endemic to North America. Their closest extant relatives are the giraffids. Only one species, the pronghorn (Antilocapra americana), is living today; all other members of the family are extinct. The living pronghorn is a small ruminant mammal resembling an antelope.
Species
FAMILY
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassMammalia
- OrderArtiodactyla
- FamilyAntilocapridae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 1,672
- With media
- 28
- Family
- Antilocapridae
- Collections
- USNM, UTEP, CM, SDNHM
- Recorded in
- United States
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
5 sectionsContents
- Description
- Classification
- Evolution
- Species
- References
The Antilocapridae are a family of ruminant artiodactyls endemic to North America. Their closest extant relatives are the giraffids. Only one species, the pronghorn (Antilocapra americana), is living today; all other members of the family are extinct. The living pronghorn is a small ruminant mammal resembling an antelope.
==Description== In most respects, antilocaprids resemble other ruminants. They have a complex, four-chambered stomach for digesting tough plant matter, cloven hooves, and small, forked horns. Their horns resemble those of the bovids, in that they have a true horny sheath, but, uniquely, they are shed outside the breeding season, and subsequently regrown. Their lateral toes are even further diminished than in bovids, with the digits themselves being entirely lost, and only the cannon bones remaining. Antilocaprids have the same dental formula as most other ruminants: .
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Antilocapridae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.