Ungulate

<p>Ungulates  are members of the diverse <a href="/facts/Clade/XefyYmWn">clade</a> Euungulata ("true ungulates"), which primarily consists of large mammals with <a href="/facts/Hoof/akrIlYRN">hooves</a>. Once part of the clade "Ungulata" along with the clade <a href="/facts/Paenungulata/LrIvjQ0w">Paenungulata</a>, "Ungulata" has since been determined to be a <a href="/facts/Polyphyletic/o7lxKY74">polyphyletic</a> and thereby invalid clade based on molecular data. As a result, true ungulates had since been reclassified to the newer clade Euungulata in 2001 within the clade <a href="/facts/Laurasiatheria/weYnsHqY">Laurasiatheria</a> while <a href="/facts/Paenungulata/LrIvjQ0w">Paenungulata</a> has been reclassified to a distant clade <a href="/facts/Afrotheria/M2cTHlVs">Afrotheria</a>.  Living ungulates are divided into two orders: <a href="/facts/Perissodactyla/wHFU3gFH">Perissodactyla</a> including <a href="/facts/Equidae/3zpnzkFG">equines</a>, <a href="/facts/Rhinoceros/PYIvDdvU">rhinoceroses</a>, and <a href="/facts/Tapir/FHt3a1Yj">tapirs</a>; and <a href="/facts/Artiodactyla/LS4ra9ET">Artiodactyla</a> including <a href="/facts/Bos/Sf0kpzfJ">cattle</a>, <a href="/facts/Antelope/Qwt40F7N">antelope</a>, <a href="/facts/Sus_(genus)/b5wxwdDY">pigs</a>, <a href="/facts/Giraffe/up0Jqouf">giraffes</a>, <a href="/facts/Camel/UGvEayFf">camels</a>, <a href="/facts/Ovis/G1gdMy51">sheep</a>, <a href="/facts/Deer/Sl8mHfp2">deer</a>, and <a href="/facts/Hippopotamidae/82SN2W5q">hippopotamuses</a>, among others. <a href="/facts/Cetacean/rtC33h63">Cetaceans</a> such as <a href="/facts/Whale/EMJBgXfb">whales</a>, <a href="/facts/Dolphin/NUxUP7Ph">dolphins</a>, and <a href="/facts/Porpoise/VhfYRrDz">porpoises</a> are also classified as artiodactyls, although they do not have hooves. Most terrestrial ungulates use the hoofed tips of their toes to support their body weight while standing or moving. Two other orders of ungulates, <a href="/facts/Notoungulata/gEWKHFAq">Notoungulata</a> and <a href="/facts/Litopterna/VKH1B6pw">Litopterna</a>, both native to South America, became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, around 12,000 years ago.
</p><p>The term means, roughly, "being hoofed" or "hoofed animal". As a descriptive term, "ungulate" normally excludes cetaceans as they do not possess most of the typical <a href="/facts/Morphology_(biology)/Nl3B0myy">morphological</a> characteristics of other ungulates, but recent discoveries indicate that they were also descended from early <a href="/facts/Artiodactyls/LS4ra9ET">artiodactyls</a>. Ungulates are typically herbivorous and many employ specialized <a href="/facts/Gut_microbiota/Xy1IWzSP">gut bacteria</a> to enable them to digest cellulose, though some members may deviate from this: several species of <a href="/facts/Suidae/KL0jkfsB">pigs</a> and the extinct <a href="/facts/Entelodont/gokLTXbo">entelodonts</a> are omnivorous, while cetaceans and the extinct <a href="/facts/Mesonychia/tPGlr6Xu">mesonychians</a> are carnivorous.
</p>

Ungulate open-in-new

Ungulate