Ungulates

The ungulates are an old and most diverse group of herbivorous placental mammals surviving today. They can reach large dimensions, with well-developed heads, strong jaws equipped with sharp incisors and large molars adapted to crush food with lateral movement. They have a marked reduction or modification in the number and length of the fingers, with the end of them covered with hard hooves. These animals walk on the fingertips, a feature that gives them great traveling speed. They have the senses of sight, hearing and smell very good in general, helping them in the detection of and escape from possible predators.

Within the Ungulates we can distinguish two orders:

Perissodactyls: Ungulates with odd fingers. In general, they have all four limbs well adapted for the race. Examples: Horses, Zebras, Tapirs, and Rhinoceroses.

Artiodactyls: Ungulates of even fingers, with the exception of peccaries whose hind limbs have only three functional fingers. Examples: Deers, Giraffe, Wild Boar and Guanaco.