Meng Dehuai, Si Yuhui, Wang Jifei, Li Zongzhi, Khattak Romaan Hayat, Liu Zhensheng, Teng Liwei
College of Wildlife and Protected Areas, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China.
National Nature Reserve of Nanhua Mountains in Ningxia, Zhongwei 755200, China.
Animals (Basel). 2023 Mar 17;13(6):1084. doi: 10.3390/ani13061084.
Constant adaptation to environmental changes is required by ruminants to allow them to adapt to different ecological niches and feeding habits. In addition, the morphology and function of ruminant digestive systems reveal some adaptive evolutionary characteristics. Blue sheep () display a variety of morpho-physiological adaptations that are typical of grazers. In this study, we collected 64 adult blue sheep samples (whole animal carcasses) from the Helan Mountains, China, during different seasons. The external morphological parameters, digestive system morphological indexes, and rumen surface enlargement factors were determined. Our results reveal that the rumen and reticulum weights were positively correlated with the body weight ( = 0.004), while the food channel aperture, intestinal length, and weight of the blue sheep digestive tract presented no significant differences between different seasons ( > 0.05) and sexes ( > 0.05). There were significant differences ( < 0.001) in the density, length, and width of mastoids, and the rumen surface enlargement factor was 2.85 ± 1.37, which is typical of roughage feeders. The nutritional and ecological characteristics of blue sheep represent obvious morphological and physiological adaptations to an herbivorous diet. Adopting a quick foraging strategy allows blue sheep to rapidly consume and excrete large amounts of feed, thus obtaining the required energy for their activities and facilitating better adaption to environmental changes.
反刍动物需要不断适应环境变化，以便它们能够适应不同的生态位和食性。此外，反刍动物消化系统的形态和功能呈现出一些适应性进化特征。岩羊表现出各种典型食草动物的形态生理适应性。在本研究中，我们在不同季节从中国贺兰山收集了64份成年岩羊样本（整只动物尸体）。测定了外部形态参数、消化系统形态指标和瘤胃表面增大因子。我们的结果显示，瘤胃和网胃重量与体重呈正相关（=0.004），而岩羊消化道的食物通道孔径、肠长度和重量在不同季节（>0.05）和性别（>0.05）之间没有显著差异。乳突的密度、长度和宽度存在显著差异（<0.001），瘤胃表面增大因子为2.85±1.37，这是粗饲料采食者的典型特征。岩羊的营养和生态特征代表了对草食性饮食的明显形态和生理适应。采用快速觅食策略使岩羊能够迅速消耗和排泄大量饲料，从而获得活动所需的能量，并促进更好地适应环境变化。
