#LARGEST CAPRINE SERIES#

Chances are they're probably descended from an animal that lived around the time of the goat-sheep split when such dividing lines weren't yet so clear as they are now. There seems to be some debate as to whether they're closer to goats or to sheep, although most of the evidence I've been able to find favours the former. The females are noticeably smaller, but still larger than even the males of any other caprine species (with, of course, one exception that I'll get to in a moment). A fully grown male takin stands over four feet high at the shoulder, and weighs upwards of 300 kg (660 lbs). The most obvious point, as I've already implied, is the size. Takins are very distinctive animals, quite hard to mistake for anything else, once you get a good look at them. The first of these animals is the takin ( Budorcas taxicolor). Instead, their apparent similarities are a coincidence, a case of parallel evolution where two animals, both fairly goat-like to start with, faced selective pressures to become larger.

They are, as we suspected, caprines, (although, despite the title of this post, not literally goats) but within that group, they are not particular closely related to one another. From modern genetic evidence, that no longer looks the case. It used to be thought, on this basis, that they were closely related to one another, representing an early branch in the evolution of goat-like animals that split away from their relatives well before the appearance of actual goats or sheep. While most caprines are fairly medium-sized as hoofed animals go, these are much larger, more muscular, animals. There are just two species left, and those form something of an exception.

#LARGEST CAPRINE SERIES#

All of the various kinds of caprine that I have described so far in this series have looked, more or less, either goat-like or sheep-like.

Largest caprine