CHAPTER XXVI 



THE UNGULATES. OR HOOFED QUADRUPEDS 



THE Ungulata represent a very large and important group of 

 mammals, comprising the Elephants, Hyraxes, Hippopotami, 

 Pigs, Ruminants (Camels, Sheep, Oxen, Goats, Antelopes, Giraffes, 

 and Deer), the Tapirs, Rhinoceroses, and Horses ; which may 

 all be denned as terrestrial animals possessing hoofs rather than 

 claws or nails, and chiefly, if not entirely, vegetarian in habit. 



The African and Indian Elephants are the only two living 

 species belonging to the order Proboscidea, and these two survivors 

 of a once numerous and widely distributed order occupy to-day 

 a zoological position of peculiar isolation, though through a most 

 interesting series of fossil forms their ancestry has been traced to 

 a probable origin among primitive hoofed or ungulate animals. 

 On account of their large size and singular sagacity, the Elephants 

 attracted the attention of man in the earliest times, and were 

 always looked upon with feelings of awe and reverence. 



While the general aspect of the Elephant is so familiar as to 

 require no description, there are certain anatomical points of 

 considerable interest to which brief reference must be made. The 

 skull of the Elephant is remarkable for its great size and the 

 comparatively small cavity occupied by the brain. The latter is 

 small in comparison to the size of the animal, in bulk not much 

 exceeding that of man. Although the bones of the skull are so 

 large, they are not solid, their interior being occupied by hollows, 

 divided from each other by thin partitions, by which means the 

 skull is rendered lighter than might be supposed. The dentition 

 presents several points of considerable interest. In the Indian 

 species the males alone have greatly developed tusks, while they 

 are well developed in both sexes of the African Elephant. These 

 tusks, or incisor teeth, grow to an enormous size, sometimes reaching 

 the weight of from a hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds. 



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