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Ungulate
Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Euungulata ("true ungulates"), which primarily consists of large mammals with Hoof, hooves. Once part of the clade "Ungulata" along with the clade Paenungulata, "Ungulata" has since been determined to be a polyphyletic 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 Laurasiatheria while Paenungulata has been reclassified to a distant clade Afrotheria. Living ungulates are divided into two orders: Perissodactyla including Equidae, equines, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and Artiodactyla including Bos, cattle, antelope, Sus (genus), pigs, giraffes, camels, Ovis, sheep, deer, and Hippopotamidae, hippopotamuses, among others. Cetaceans such as Whale, whales, Dolphin, dolphins, and Porpoise, porpoises are also classified as artiodactyls, although they do not have hooves. Most terrestrial ungulates use the hoofed tips of their toes ...
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Perissodactyla
Perissodactyla (, ), or odd-toed ungulates, is an order of ungulates. The order includes about 17 living species divided into three families: Equidae (horses, asses, and zebras), Rhinocerotidae (rhinoceroses), and Tapiridae (tapirs). They typically have reduced the weight-bearing toes to three or one of the five original toes, though tapirs retain four toes on their front feet. The nonweight-bearing toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or positioned posteriorly. By contrast, artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates) bear most of their weight equally on four or two (an even number) of the five toes: their third and fourth toes. Another difference between the two is that perissodactyls digest plant cellulose in their intestines, rather than in one or more stomach chambers as artiodactyls, with the exception of Suina, do. The order was considerably more diverse in the past, with notable extinct groups including the brontotheres, palaeotheres, chalicotheres, and the paracer ...
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Notoungulata
Notoungulata is an extinct order of ungulates that inhabited South America from the early Paleocene to the end of the Pleistocene, living from approximately 61 million to 11,000 years ago. Notoungulates were morphologically diverse, with forms resembling animals as disparate as rabbits and rhinoceroses. Notoungulata are the largest group of South American native ungulates, with over 150 genera in 14 families having been described, divided into two major subgroupings, Typotheria and Toxodontia. Notoungulates first diversified during the Eocene. Their diversity declined from the late Neogene onwards, with only the large Toxodontidae, toxodontids persisting until the end of the Pleistocene (with ''Mixotoxodon'' expanding into Central America and southern North America), perishing as part of the Late Pleistocene extinctions, Late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions along with most other large mammals across the Americas. Collagen sequence analysis suggests that notoungulates are closely ...
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Artiodactyla
Artiodactyls are placental mammals belonging to the order (biology), order Artiodactyla ( , ). Typically, they are ungulates which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes (the third and fourth, often in the form of a hoof). The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing posteriorly. By contrast, most perissodactyls bear weight on an odd number of the five toes. Another difference between the two orders is that many artiodactyls (except for Suina) digest plant cellulose in one or more stomach chambers rather than in their intestine (as perissodactyls do). Molecular biology, along with new fossil discoveries, has found that cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) fall within this taxonomic branch, being most closely related to Hippopotamidae, hippopotamuses. Some modern taxonomists thus apply the name Cetartiodactyla () to this group, while others opt to include cetaceans within the existing name of Artiodactyla. Some researchers ...
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Artiodactyls
Artiodactyls are placental mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla ( , ). Typically, they are ungulates which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes (the third and fourth, often in the form of a hoof). The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing posteriorly. By contrast, most perissodactyls bear weight on an odd number of the five toes. Another difference between the two orders is that many artiodactyls (except for Suina) digest plant cellulose in one or more stomach chambers rather than in their intestine (as perissodactyls do). Molecular biology, along with new fossil discoveries, has found that cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) fall within this taxonomic branch, being most closely related to hippopotamuses. Some modern taxonomists thus apply the name Cetartiodactyla () to this group, while others opt to include cetaceans within the existing name of Artiodactyla. Some researchers use "even-toed ungulates" to excl ...
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Even-toed Ungulate
Artiodactyls are placental mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla ( , ). Typically, they are ungulates which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes (the third and fourth, often in the form of a hoof). The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing posteriorly. By contrast, most perissodactyls bear weight on an odd number of the five toes. Another difference between the two orders is that many artiodactyls (except for Suina) digest plant cellulose in one or more stomach chambers rather than in their intestine (as perissodactyls do). Molecular biology, along with new fossil discoveries, has found that cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) fall within this taxonomic branch, being most closely related to hippopotamuses. Some modern taxonomists thus apply the name Cetartiodactyla () to this group, while others opt to include cetaceans within the existing name of Artiodactyla. Some researchers use "even-toed ungulates" to e ...
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Litopterna
Litopterna (from "smooth heel") is an extinction, extinct order of South American native ungulates that lived from the Paleocene to the Pleistocene-Holocene around 62.5 million to 12,000 years ago (or possibly as late as 3,500 years ago), and were also present in Antarctica during the Eocene. They represent the second most diverse group of South American ungulates after Notoungulata. It is divided into nine families, with Proterotheriidae and Macraucheniidae being the most diverse and last surviving families. Diversity The body forms of many litopterns, notably in the limb and skull structure, are broadly similar to those of living ungulates, unlike other South American native ungulate groups, which are often strongly divergent from living ungulates. Paleocene and Eocene litopterns generally had small body masses, with ''Protolipterna'' (Protolipternidae) estimated to have had a body mass of , though the Eocene Sparnotheriodontidae, sparnotheriodontids were considerably large ...
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Giraffe
The giraffe is a large Fauna of Africa, African even-toed ungulate, hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa.'' It is the Largest mammals#Even-toed Ungulates (Artiodactyla), tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. It is classified under the Family (biology), family Giraffidae, along with its closest extant relative, the okapi. Traditionally, giraffes have been thought of as one species, ''Giraffa camelopardalis'', with nine subspecies. Most recently, researchers proposed dividing them into four Neontology#Extant taxa versus extinct taxa, extant species which can be distinguished by their fur Animal coat, coat patterns. Six valid Lists of extinct species, extinct species of ''Giraffa'' are known from the fossil record. The giraffe's distinguishing characteristics are its extremely long neck and legs, horn-like ossicones, and spotted coat patterns. Its scattered range extends from Chad in the north to South Africa in the south and from Niger in ...
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Panperissodactyla
Panperissodactyla ("all perissodactyls", alternatively spelled Pan-Perissodactyla) is a clade of ungulates containing living order Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates) and all extinct ungulates more closely related to Perissodactyla than to Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates). Groups thought to belong to this clade include Anthracobunia (including the families Anthracobunidae and Cambaytheriidae) known from the Paleogene of the Indian subcontinent, as well as the South American native ungulate groups Litopterna and Notoungulata, both of which went extinct approximately 12,000 years ago. Other South American native ungulate groups also possibly belong to the clade, but their placement is uncertain. The enigmatic aquatic Desmostylia have also been suggested to be related to perissodactyls in some studies, though others recover them as members of afrotherian clade Tethytheria. The Northern Hemisphere "condylarth" group Phenacodontidae has been placed as closely related to perissodac ...
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Mesonychia
Mesonychia ("middle claws") is an extinct taxon of small to large-sized carnivorous ungulates related to artiodactyls. Mesonychians first appeared in the early Paleocene, went into a sharp decline at the end of the Eocene, and died out entirely when the last genus, ''Mongolestes'', became extinct in the early Oligocene. In Asia, the record of their history suggests they grew gradually larger and more predatory over time, then shifted to scavenging and bone-crushing lifestyles before the group became extinct. Mesonychians probably originated in China, where the most primitive mesonychian, ''Yantanglestes'', is known from the early Paleocene. They were also most diverse in Asia, where they occur in all major Paleocene faunas. Since other predators, such as Creodonta, creodonts and Carnivora, were either rare or absent in these animal communities, mesonychians most likely dominated the large predator Ecological niche, niche in the Paleocene of eastern Asia. One genus, ''Dissacus'', ...
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Paenungulata
Paenungulata (from Latin ''paene'' "almost" + ''ungulātus'' "having hoofs") is a clade of "sub- ungulates", which groups three extant mammal orders: Proboscidea (including elephants), Sirenia ( sea cows, including dugongs and manatees), and Hyracoidea ( hyraxes). At least two more possible orders are known only as fossils, namely Embrithopoda and Desmostylia. Molecular evidence indicates that Paenungulata (or at least its extant members) is part of the cohort Afrotheria, an ancient assemblage of mainly African mammals of great diversity. The other members of this cohort are the orders Afrosoricida ( tenrecs and golden moles), Macroscelidea ( elephant shrews) and Tubulidentata ( aardvarks). Of the five orders, hyraxes are the most basal, followed by embrithopods; the remaining orders (sirenians and elephants) are more closely related. These latter three are grouped as the Tethytheria, because it is believed that their common ancestors lived on the shores of the prehisto ...
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