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It
seems strange to refer to animals as either odd-toed or even-toed but that is
how the two groups of mammals that are distinguished. The herbivorous ungulates
evolved on firm grassy plains - ideal places for running at high speed. The
fewer fingers and toes an animal has the faster it can run. This is why you run
on the very tips of your toes when you sprint for a bus, to give you more spring
forwards. The fingers and toes of the ungulates became reduced, their legs
lengthened to allow fast galloping across the plains. If you draw a straight
line down the middle of an ungulate’s foot (this is called an axis), in some it
will pass through the middle finger or toe. During the evolution of these
ungulates this finger or toe has become lengthened and developed into the hoof.
While the toes on either side have become lost or reduced. So the hoof is either
made up of just one toe or of three in these ungulates, and they are therefore
called odd-toed. Today’s representatives of this group are horses, asses and
zebras, and tapirs and rhinoceroses.
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