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 Pertssodactyli or 
odd-toed ungulates, including the horse and zebra (one toe); the 
rhinoceros and tapir* (three toes), and the 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. 
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