We are deeply impressed by the familiar animal species such as cats and canines. However, this issue is about a group of mammals that is rarely concerned by the average person, the bovine family.
The bovine family is a large group of mammals with about 140 species. They are distributed all over the world, and Africa has the largest bovine population.
Bovine include cows, bison, goats, sheep and antelopes, among others. So don't listen to the bovine family, you think it only includes cattle, but even the sheep we are familiar with belong to the bovine family. Bovines are richer than we think.
At the same time, there are many bovine animals that are extremely ornamental, and it is not enough to describe them as cute.
- Stone goat
Stone goat cubs
Stone goats are also known as North American goats, snow sheep.
The stone goats that live in the snowy homes of western Canada and the United States have thick fur that keeps them warm. At the same time, this beautiful body shape and coat color are also very attractive.
In particular, their cubs, which look harmless to humans and animals, look at their not very smart eyes, cute and cute. However, this snow elf on the mountain is not a good stubble.
They weigh an average of 125 kilograms and have a pair of black sharp horns up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) long on their heads. Their hooves are able to dig into gaps in rocks and sometimes even kill bears that come to hunt.
- Thomson Antelope
If the snow sheep looks cute, then the Thomson antelope is a little more agile.
They are the smallest and most responsive antelope in the world, which is up to a meter long and is the main food for many prairie carnivores, such as cheetahs and lions. They play an extremely important role in the steady-state regulation of interspecific relationships and ecosystems.
Similarly, their light body shape and beautiful horns make them very ornamental.
- African oryx
African oryx also has beautiful horns and coat colors, but they are larger than Thomson antelopes, and the horns on the top of their heads are longer, so they are not so light.
They live in a variety of habitats in Africa, but they are never far from water sources, especially swamps. Why?
The important reason is that when threatened by predators such as lions and leopards, they immediately run into the water to hide. This kind of hedging method is very strange.
- pronghorn
The forked antelope is running
This is the only species of antelope in the United States that inhabits the open prairie.
As their name suggests, the horns on the top of the forked horned antelope are very distinctive, molting every year, and not so long and forked, but not as pompous as reindeer, but slightly cute, but cute love has no head.
However, in fact, long-term natural selection makes the forkhorn antelope the fastest animal in the world (of course, the cheetah is the sprint champion) Which is not easy for antelope.
At the same time, the forked horned antelope can see the white hairs on the buttocks of another forked horned antelope thousands of miles away, which is used to warn its kind of danger.
- African gazelle
An African gazelle feeding
This species currently inhabits the steppes of East Africa and is a very graceful and distinctive bovine.
When their necks stretch upwards and eat the leaves of trees and tall shrubs, they often use their hind legs to maintain balance in their bodies. At the same time, we can find that their necks are relatively longer.
By the way, only males grow horns in African gazelles, so we are very good at distinguishing between females and males.
- musk ox
If the stone goat is the snow elf of the mountain, then the musk ox is the warrior of the mountain.
Because of their long, coarse fur, they are well able to protect themselves from the cold winds of the steppe. Adult musk oxen are up to two meters long from head to hip, twice as long as Thomson's antelope. And adult males and females have wide curly horns, looking loyal and honest and not lacking in might.
- sheep
Sheep were domesticated as early as 10,000 years ago, and there are now about 700 million sheep in the world, arguably one of the animals that have a huge impact on humans.
For modern society, they are important elements of the global agricultural economy, wool, meat, are the economic products they bring.
For their cute image, it has also been sought after by human beings. Well-behaved and docile and cute, they are synonymous with them.
- To sum up, the species of bovine is very rich, much more than we think, and its role is also very important.
However, we cannot just think that bovines are universal, some animals that play an important role in the global economy are very common, but there are still many bovines that are endangered.
In 1627, the last truly wild European bison was killed; the Chinese government attached great importance to the Coco Siri Nature Reserve, and the protection of the Tibetan antelope...
There is no shortage of such examples, and they reflect not only the protection of bovines, but also the respect and preciousness that human beings should respond to the whole natural world. The establishment of nature reserves and the protection of other places are the best embodiment of our action as a voice for nature.
With the way of nature, cultivate the body of nature - Zhuangzi