Ungulate

"Ungulate" means roughly "hoofed" or "hoofed animal." Ungulates make up several orders of mammals, of which four are alive: the Artiodactyla? (even-toed ungulates and whales), Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates such as horses and rhinos), Proboscidea (elephants), and Hyracoidea? (hyraxes). Most large land mammals are ungulates.

Extinct ones include Ancylopoda and Mesonychids.

Ungulates are characterised by reduced canine teeth, bunodont molars (molars with low, rounded cusps); 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.