Hoofed Animals

Hoofed mammals, called ungulates, are characterized by their distinctive hoofed feet. Most North American ungulates are large herbivores (plant-eating animals) and can be grouped into even-toes ungulates, like deer or elk, or odd-toes ungulates, like horses.

 

Common Ungulates at Lake Roosevelt

 

Bighorn sheep ram and ewe

NPS/Diane Renkin

Bighorn Sheep

Ovis canadensis

• Feeds primarily on grasses in spring and summer, forages on shrubby plants in fall and winter

• Both males and females grow horns

• Horns of an adult ram can make up 8–12% of his total body weight

• Ram skulls have two layers of bone above the brain that function as a shock absorber for the collision of head-on fighting between rams during mating season competition

 

Bull Moose

NPS/Kent Miller

Moose

Alces alces

• The largest member of North America's deer family

• Dark brown coats and massive shoulders, prominent muzzles, and a large flap of hair-covered skin that hangs beneath the throat called a "bell"

• Adult males, called bulls, have broad, flat, antlers, which shed in winter and regrow each spring

• Long legs help for wading through water or deep snow, for swimming and for running

 

Mule deer buck

NPS/Neal Herbert

Mule Deer

Odocileus hemionus hemionus

• Commonly found throughout eastern Washington

• Prefers open forests or sagebrush meadows

• Named for their large, dark-edged ears, which resemble a mule

• Tail is 7–8 inches long, white, with a black tip

• Tan to light brown coat with white rumps

• Buck antlers fork evenly, distinguishing them from white-tailed deer

 

Elk

NPS/Neal Herbert

Rocky Mountain Elk

Cervus elaphus nelsoni

• Can weigh between 400–800 pounds

• Golden-brown coats with darker-colored legs and necks, and large yellowish-white rump patches

• Bull elk have shaggy dark brown throat manes and begin growing antlers in their second year

• Habitat includes grasslands, meadows, or clearcuts, interspersed with closed-canopy forests

• During the fall mating season, mature bulls challenge each other vocally, emitting high-pitched “bugles” as part of their competition

 

White-tailed deer

NPS Photo

White-Tailed Deer

Odocoileus virginianus

• Occurs in eastern Washington on farmlands, in low elevation stream and river corridors, and near populated areas

• Reddish tan in summer and brownish gray in winter

• When alarmed, they raise their 10–11 inch-long tail, displaying the white underside

• Buck antlers have tines growing from a single beam, distinguishing them from mule deer