In recent years the definition of "ungulate" has been under debate. The fact of including or not including certain groups of animals that, apparently, have nothing to do with each other, or the doubt about which is the common ancestor, have been two of the reasons for the discussion.
The term "ungulate" derives from the Latin "ungula", which means "nail". They have also been called unguligrades, for being quadrupedal animals that walk on their nails. Despite this definition, at a certain moment, cetaceans were included in the group of ungulates, a fact that apparently makes no sense, since cetaceans are marine mammals without legs. For all these reasons, in this article on our site we want to explain the definition of hoofed animals and what species are currently included in the group.
What are hoofed animals?
Ungulates are a superorder of animals that walk on the tips of their toes or have an ancestor that walked this way even though at present their descendants do not.
Formerly, the term ungulate was applied only to hoofed animals belonging to the orders Artiodactyla (even toes) and Perissodactyla (odd toes) but over time five more orders were added, some of which don't even have legs. The reasons why these orders were added were phylogenetic, but this relationship has now been shown to be artificial. Therefore, the term ungulate has ceased to have taxonomic importance and its correct definition is that of “placental hoofed mammal ”.
Characteristics of hoofed animals
The very definition of "ungulate" anticipates one of the main characteristics of the group, having hooves. The hooves or hooves are not m?
