UNGULATES OR HOOFED ANIMALS 



(Ungulata) 



To this order belong most of the largest mammals. Repre- 

 sentatives occur in all parts of the world except Australia and 

 Madagascar, but they are most abundant in the tropics of the Old 

 World. 



Nearly all the "game" mammals belong to this order and 

 through the persistent efforts of the hunters quite a number of 

 species are rapidly approaching extinction. Here too belong the 

 domestic animals which have served man as beasts of burden 

 and as a source of food and clothing from time immemorial — the 

 horse, ass, cow, sheep, goat and hog. 



The ungulates are herbivorous, and many of them are gre- 

 garious, associating in large herds. 



in structure they differ from all the other orders in the pos- 

 session of rounded horny hoofs which terminate the toes and cor- 

 respond to the claws of the rodents and carnivores. All ungulates 

 are also digitigrade, walking on the tips of the toes with the heel 

 much elevated. In most species the legs are decidedly long, and 

 the feet much elongated, while there is always a reduction in 

 the number of toes. This reaches its extreme in the horse which 

 has but one toe on each foot, though the remnants of two others 

 still remain in the slender bones known as "splints." 



The smallest ungulates are the chevrotains and some of the 

 antelopes of Asia and Africa which scarcely reach a height of 

 twelve inches at the shoulder, from these they range all the way to 

 the gigantic rhinoceros and Indian buffalo, and the slender giraffe. 



The order is divisible into two groups — the Perissodactyli or 

 odd-toed ungulates, including the horse and zebra (one toe); the 

 rhinoceros and tapir* (three toes), and \.\\e Artiodactyli or even-toed 

 ungulates; the hippopotamus (four toes); camel and giraffe (two 

 toes), and the pig, deer, sheep, ox, etc. (four toes, two of which 

 are rudimentary). 



The deer and their allies constitute the section of ruminants to 

 which all the domestic cattle belong and which are characterized by a 



* The tapir has four toes on the front feet. 



