typhlonectes:Meet the Takin: The Largest Mammal You’ve Never Heard OfBY MATTHEW L. MILLERWhat is a t
typhlonectes:Meet the Takin: The Largest Mammal You’ve Never Heard OfBY MATTHEW L. MILLERWhat is a takin? First, a little taxonomy. It’s in the mammalian family Bovidae that also includes antelopes, oxen, sheep and goats, among others. The bovids include some of the most familiar animals on earth, including common barnyard animals like cattle. Wild bovids like bison and wildebeest are also widely recognized.But despite being incredibly cool and even beautiful (at least to me), many of these hoofed mammals remain obscure. The wonderful variety of African antelopes – kudu and eland and duiker – play background roles in documentaries, if they appear at all. A Twitter feed and game by biologist Matt Davis, Underrated Ungulate, seeks to bring attention to many of these species.If there’s any hoofed mammal that deserves the limelight, it’s the wildly bizarre takin. Almost any writer and even biologist confronting the takin seems to describe it as a creature composed by assembling parts of other animals. Many accounts describe it a creation of Dr. Seuss. Taxonomists call it a “goat antelope” and others call it a “gnu goat.” Even famed biologist George Schaller describes it as a “bee-stung moose” due to its super-sized schnoz.There’s nothing else quite like it. It probably most closely resembles a less-shaggy musk ox, but it actually is more closely related to wild sheep…Read more: Cool Green Sciencephotos: © Valerie Everett / Wikimedia CC; © Jean-Marie Hullot / Flickr CC; SanDiego Zoo -- source link