Pecora

Pecora is an infraorder of even-toed hoofed mammals with ruminant digestion. Most members of Pecora have cranial appendages projecting from their frontal bones; only two extant genera lack them, Hydropotes and Moschus. The name "Pecora" comes from the Latin word , which means "cattle". Although most pecorans have cranial appendages, only some of these are properly called "horns", and many scientists agree that these appendages did not arise from a common ancestor, but instead evolved independently on at least two occasions. Likewise, while Pecora as a group is supported by both molecular and morphological studies, morphological support for interrelationships between pecoran families is disputed.

== Evolutionary history == The first fossil ruminants appeared in the Early Eocene and were small, likely omnivorous, forest-dwellers. Molecular dating studies estimate that Ruminantia split into the two sister clades Pecora and Tragulina around 45 million years ago, during the Eocene. However, it was not until 15 million years later, at around 30 million years ago during the Oligocene, that the evolutionary radiation of Pecora began and the five families appeared (Bovidae, Cervidae, Moschidae, Giraffidae, and Antilocapridae).