Zoology 365

Biology of Mammals

Spring Semester, 2006

Terri McElhinny- Michigan State University

Lab 5 Review: Ungulates

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Okay, I was ill when I wrote this review, so it's kind of out there. Hopefully you will come away from this review a bit wiser, and not thinking that I'm a complete dork. --Terri

Congratulations! You've graduated from college and it's the first day of your new job as curator of mammals at the Natural History Museum in Giraffa, Wyoming. Much to your dismay, you find that the previous curator, Dr. Cervus, suffered from Alzheimer's and managed to do a bit of rearranging before retiring. You find that he categorized the ungulate skulls by which member of his family they looked most like. You need to sort them out. Good luck!

1. The first skull is labeled Aunt Edna, she has lophodont teeth, well developed incisors, a complete post-orbital bar, and freely projecting nasal bones. Family? Would Aunt Edna have been paraxonic or mesaxonic?

2. Nephew Jake has rounded boney horns set well back on his skull, and a third medial bump between them. Family? Dr. Cervus has also erased the locality data from the specimen tag. Where might Nephew Jake have been found?

3. The next skull is labeled simply "Nanny-Pampers". It is huge with tusk-like canines, the lower canines are bigger than the upper ones, and it has an incomplete (but not absent) postorbital bar. Family? What sort of lifestyle would Nanny-Pampers have led?

4. The next skull, Gramps, is just as big as Nanny-Pampers, but it looks like a saddle, its freely-projecting nasal bones look like the horn of the saddle, inviting you to climb aboard and ride away from this madness (Gramps is missing a post-orbital bar, too). Family?

5. This is maddening! To calm yourself down, you chant the three Suborders in the Order Artiodactyla:

6. You find two similarly sized skulls labelled "the twins". They both have selenodont dentition and a lacrimal fenestra. You think that one might be a cervid and the other a bovid, but neither of them have headgear. How can you decide which is which?

7. Uncle Jangles has bunodont dentition and tusk-like canines that curve up and out on the upper jaw. Family?

8. To save time, you pile up all of the skulls that have unbranched horns with a boney core, you know that they are in Family...

9. Your keen eye catches a skull with horns that extend right above the eyes and branch once. Family?

10. The next skull you find is labelled Sister Bambi, which is appropriate because you note immediately that it is a white-tail deer. Genus and species?

11. Dr. Cervus studied moose and elk, and in one of his more lucid moments, made a note on how to tell the skulls of the two species apart, even if the skulls were lacking antlers. What does the note say?

12. The director of the Museum, your new boss, pops her head in and says "I was wondering if you could tell me the difference between horns and antlers?" Desperate for the company, and wanting to impress your new boss, you answer...

13. You find a note in the bottom of one of the ungulate cabinets, it says "The secret password= the only family in the Suborder Tylopoda". What is the secret password?

14. The skull labelled "Cousin Stella" is small, has selenodont dentition, large canines, and no preorbital vacuity. Family? Where might Cousin Stella have lived?

15. You're ready to call it a day, but just as you're leaving, the phone rings. It's a first grader from the local school, he's doing a project on tapirs, and asks you where they live, you say...

Lab 5 Review: Ungulates-- Answers

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