#artiodactyla

Javelina aka Collared Peccary (Dicotyles tajacu), male, family Tayassuidae, Arizona, USA

Who needs chromosomes? Certainly not the Indian muntjac! Indian muntjac deer have the lowest chromosome count of any mammal, with 6 in females and 7 in males. That's fewer chromosomes than a fruit fly!

Green pond frogs (Euphlyctis hexadactylus) perch on an Asiatic water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) in Kumana National Park, Sri Lanka

Melanistic fallow deer filmed by Jakub Wencek in the forests of Barycz Valley.

ARTIODACTYLA size chart

Artiodactyls are a very diverse group of mammals, mostly herbivores easily recognizable for their double hoofs. Deers, Camels or Hippos belong to this group. Although it's not obvious at first sight, whales also derived from this lineage, representing one of the best examples of evolution and adaptation in Natural History

This composition is now also available at Redbubble for prints and more HERE

Original video, including some more HERE

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Have you ever seen half a giraffe?

Samotherium boissieri was a giraffid that lived from the mid-Miocene to early Pliocene, about 12-5 million years ago, ranging across what is now Southeastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.

Standing 2.3m tall at the shoulder (~7'6"), and with a total height of around 3-3.5m (9'10"-11'6"), it had long pointed ossicones and a neck that was halfway in both length and bone anatomy between those of its modern relatives the okapi and giraffe.

(But it wasn't actually a direct ancestor of modern giraffes, instead being an offshoot of the okapi lineage and most closely related to sivatheres.)

The shape of its snout and microwear on its teeth suggest that it was a seasonal mixed feeder, varying its diet between grazing and browsing at different times of year.

It would have also lived alongside another slightly larger species in the same genus, Samotherium major — but the two appear to have been ecologically partitioned, avoiding direct competition by each preferring slightly different habitats and diets. S. boissieri inhabited more open grasslands, while S. major lived in mixed woodland-grassland and was more of a grazing specialist.

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