Bovidae is the
biological family of cloven-hoofed,
ruminant mammals that includes
bison,
African buffalo,
water buffalo,
antelopes,
gazelles,
sheep,
goats,
muskoxen, and domestic
cattle. A member of this family is called a
bovid. Consisting of 143
extant species and 300 known extinct species, the family Bovidae consists of eight major
subfamilies apart from the disputed
Peleinae and
Pantholopinae. The family evolved 20 million years ago, in the early
Miocene.