Ungulate

Ungulates (meaning roughly "hoofed[?]" or "hoofed animal") make up several orders of mammals, of which six survive:

• Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates)
• Cetacea (whales, which evolved from hoofed land animals)
• Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates such as horses and rhinos)
• Proboscidea (elephants)
• Sirenia (manatees)
• Hyracoidea (hyraxes).

Most large land mammals are ungulates.

Extinct ungulate groups include Ancylopoda, Amblypoda and Condylarths.

In addition to hooves, ungulates developed reduced canine teeth[?], bunodont molars (molars with low, rounded cusps), and an astragalus[?] (one of the ankle bones at the end of the lower leg) with a short, robust head.

Ungulates diversified rapidly in the Eocene, but are thought to date back perhaps as far as the Late Cretaceous. Most ungulates are herbivores, but a few are omnivores or predators (e.g. some whales).