Artiodactyl

This article is missing information about whale traits and physical traits uniting whales with terrestrial artiodactyls. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page. (July 2023)

Artiodactyls Temporal range: 55.4–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Early Eocene – Holocene
Clockwise from center: American bison (Bison bison), dromedary (Camelus dromedarius), wild boar (Sus scrofa), orca (Orcinus orca), red deer (Cervus elaphus), and northern giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Clade:	Scrotifera
Grandorder:	Ferungulata
Clade:	Pan-Euungulata
Mirorder:	Euungulata
Clade:	Paraxonia
Order:	Artiodactyla Owen, 1848
Subdivisions
Tylopoda Artiofabula Suina Cetruminantia Ruminantia Whippomorpha Ancodonta Cetacea (historically excluded)
Synonyms
Cetartiodactyla Montgelard et al. 1997

Artiodactyls are placental mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla (/ˌɑːrtioʊˈdæktɪlə/ AR-tee-oh-DAK-tih-lə, from Ancient Greek ἄρτιος, ártios 'even' and δάκτυλος, dáktylos 'finger, toe'). Typically, they are ungulates which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes (the third and fourth, often in the form of a hoof). The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing posteriorly. By contrast, most perissodactyls bear weight on an odd number of the five toes. Another difference between the two orders is that many artiodactyls (except for Suina) digest plant cellulose in one or more stomach chambers rather than in their intestine (as perissodactyls do). Molecular biology, along with new fossil discoveries, has found that cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) fall within this taxonomic branch, being most closely related to hippopotamuses. Some modern taxonomists thus apply the name Cetartiodactyla (/sɪˌtɑːrtioʊˈdæktɪlə/) to this group, while others opt to include cetaceans within the existing name of Artiodactyla. Some researchers use "even-toed ungulates" to exclude cetaceans and only include terrestrial artiodactyls, making the term paraphyletic in nature.

The roughly 270 land-based even-toed ungulate species include pigs, peccaries, hippopotamuses, antelopes, deer, giraffes, camels, llamas, alpacas, sheep, goats and cattle. Many are herbivores, but suids are omnivorous, whereas cetaceans are entirely carnivorous. Artiodactyls are also known by many extinct groups such as anoplotheres, cainotheriids, merycoidodonts, entelodonts, anthracotheres, basilosaurids, and palaeomerycids. Many artiodactyls are of great dietary, economic, and cultural importance to humans.