Fig. 98.—Collared Peccary (Tagassu tajacu).—By permission of the N.Y. Zoölog. Soc.
Hoofed animals are not numerously represented in South America. The only existing Perissodactyla of the western hemisphere are the tapirs (Tapirus) of Central and tropical South America, a very remarkable contrast to the ancient faunas, especially of the northern continent, as will be shown in the sequel. The Artiodactyla are more varied, though very scanty in comparison with those of the Old World; even North America, which has but a poor representation of these animals, is much richer than the southern continent, where, indeed, all the hoofed animals are the descendants of comparatively recent immigrants from the north and none are truly autochthonous. Members of three different artiodactyl suborders occur in the Neotropical region; the peccaries (Tagassu) extend through Central and South America to Paraguay, though also entering the Sonoran region in Texas. Most interesting are the members of the camel family, which are very distinct from the true Camel of Asia. Tierra del Fuego and the Patagonian plains support great herds of the Guanaco (Lama huanacus), which extends along the Andes to Ecuador and Peru, where it is associated with the Vicuña (L. vicunia), a smaller and more slenderly built species. The Vicuña does not range south of Bolivia. Just as the mountain systems of North America carry the Boreal and Transition faunas through nearly the whole breadth of the Sonoran region, so the high Andes afford a pathway by which the mammals of the south temperate zone extend their range to the equator.
Fig. 99.—Vicuña (Lama vicunia).—By permission of the N.Y. Zoölog. Soc.
Fig. 100.—Florida Deer (Odocoileus virginianus osceola).—By permission of the N.Y. Zoölog. Soc.
Fig. 101.—Marsh Deer (Blastoceros paludosus), female.—By permission of the N.Y. Zoölog. Soc.
The suborder Pecora of the Artiodactyla is represented in the Neotropical region only by the deer family (Cervidæ), of which there are several genera (or subgenera), all of them North American as distinguished from the Old World type, but some are so peculiar that they must have had a relatively long South American ancestry. The Virginia Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) of the northern United States is a comparatively large animal, becoming much smaller in Florida and the Southwest. The type extends through Mexico and Central America to Guiana and Peru, the Neotropical forms being so small and having such weak antlers that they are referred to separate species. Another type is the Marsh Deer (Blastoceros paludosus) of eastern South America, which has short, stout antlers, each beam with two double bifurcations; there are other species of the same genus, such as the Pampas Deer of Argentina (B. bezoarticus). In the Andes of Peru and Chili and the forests of western Patagonia are two species of a genus which bears the preposterous name of Hippocamelus and in which the antlers are simply forked. The vernacular name of these animals is “Huemul.” Peculiarly Neotropical are the little brockets, which hardly exceed a height of two feet at the shoulder, with simple spike-like antlers not more than three inches long; the genus, Mazama, has several species, one of which occurs as far north as the state of Puebla in Mexico. “The smallest of all deer is the Chilian pudu (Pudua pudu), a creature not much larger than a hare, with almost rudimentary antlers” (Lydekker). Old World types of deer, such as the Wapiti, Moose and Caribou, of the Boreal and Transition zones of North America, are entirely absent from the Neotropical region.