Ungulates are a very large and diverse group of some two dozen mammalian orders, over half of them extinct.
Most ungulates are large herbivores that stand high on their toes and flee from danger by running away fast.
Molar teeth are generally specialized for grinding tough plant foods.
The order Condylarthra, which flourished in early Tertiary times, was ancestral to the great ungulate diversity,
which included heavy early ungulates (such as the pantodonts and uintatheres), the very successful artiodactyls
and perissodactyls, the elephants, and four South American orders. Atypical ungulates include the insect-eating
aardvarks and three marine orders including the whales.
- Ungulates and their adaptations
- Early ungulates: order Condylarthra
- The ungulate family tree
- Pantodonts and Dinocerata
- Aardvarks
- South American ungulate orders:
- Notoungulata
- Litopterna
- Astrapotheria
- Pyrotheria
Illustrations
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