Welcome to Ungulates of iNaturalist!
This blog showcases mammals belonging to the groups Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates including cetaceans), Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates), and Paenungulata (paenungulates or "sub-ungulates" - elephants, seacows, and hyraxes).
All images shown on this blog are sourced from iNaturalist, with attribution to the observer and the relevant Creative Commons license. This blog is not affiliated with iNaturalist - I'm just an enthusiastic iNat user.
The taxonomy used on this blog is not derived from any single source and is not meant to be authoritative; it follows taxonomic opinions and proposals that I feel are reasonably sound, leaning toward my own general proclivites as a taxonomic "splitter".
Tag index:
All species/subspecies are tagged with their scientific and common names, and the scientific and common names of the taxonomic family to which they belong.
All posts are tagged with continent and country of observation, with some larger countries also having lower-level (ie, state/province) divisions tagged. Marine observations similarly have oceans, seas, etc. tagged. If the location of the observation is outside the species's natural range and reflects recent translocation by human agency, it is tagged as "introduced".
"multi-ungulate" - post includes more than one taxon of artiodactyl, perissodactyl, or paenungulate
"non-ungulate" - post includes at least one reasonably-identifiable animal that is not an artiodactyl, perissodactyl, or paenungulate. The non-ungulate(s) are tagged with their common and scientific names and general classification.
"keep reading" - post includes additional text below a break
I occasionally will write housekeeping posts ("posting about the blog"), provide my rationale about taxonomic changes on the blog ("posting about taxonomy"), have polls ("poll"), or answer posts submitted to my ask box ("asks"), all of which are tagged.
"juvenile" - post includes an immature animal
"trailcam" - image is from a trail camera
Conditions of observation may be noted in tags: "night", "rain", "snow", "sea ice", "underwater"
"aberrant coloration" - ungulate shows color/pattern that is outside the "standard" for the species
"animal injury" - an animal in the post shows some obvious sign of harm, beyond minor scratches/scrapes or scarring that is normal for the species (e.g. hippos, dolphins).
Similar to the above, other tags may be implemented as necessary: "blood", "gore", "dead animal"
A few other notes:
While the focus of this blog is on living animals and thus carcasses are not likely to be posted, the last few tags noted above should serve as an alert that there is occasionally content here that could be considered gruesome or upsetting: death, disease, injury, and predation are all normal parts of life for wild animals.
On a similar note, sexual behavior is a normal part of life for animals, and in some animals (particularly males of certain species, such as horses and elephants) sexual organs may be very obvious. Such things will appear from time to time on this blog.
This blog covers wild animals, but not exclusively wild species - that is to say, domestic species living in feral or in (semi-)free-range states will be included. There are some grey areas for what counts as "wild", but I do generally feel that animals living in semi-managed settings such as fenced game reserves still count as basically being wild.
I tag animals to the subspecies level where possible; to see multiple subspecies of the same species together, search the genus and species name on the blog, without the third part of the scientific name.
I hope you enjoy this journey through the wide world of ungulates on this blog. My ask box is open if you have questions, comments, or concerns.