Actually, in some larger animals, biarticular 'tendons' occurs (in the camel the plantaris muscle-tendon units contains a very small muscle). In these animals we see very stereotyped movements, lacking the freedom in movements that other animals have. A nice hypothesis to test is that the stereotyped movements are due to constant coupling of joints.
The general function of mono- and biarticular muscles: A general principle, but blurred by other confounding muscle functions, from these analyses is that mono-articular muscles tend to be work generators. Thus they tend to be active while shortening. In contrast, biarticular muscles transport energy.