A Hoof-Some Trio #612

 Fun Fact #612

A Hoof-Some Trio

The Order Perissodactyla  has been around since at least 55 Million years ago, managing to survive and even thrive in all but Australia and Antarctica. Yet 

With a name meaning “The Odd-Toed” you might be forgiven for thinking they are uncommon sights, but in truth they may be closer than you think. You see they get their name from the odd structure of their limbs having been made so the majority of their weight rests on the tip of their third (or Middle) toe which as a result has become the largest. No fingers though so at least they aren't flipping you off?

The order is broken up into three Families after this including: Equidae (one toed), Rhinocerotida (4-toed), and Tapiridae (four front/three hind toed). While historically the most numerous was the Rhinocerotida Family –or Rhinos for short– Today Equidae takes the cake for most numerous, and its not hard to see why. You see the Equidae, or “single toed”, have limbs structured for reduced lateral (Sideways) movement but allows for greater speed resulting in Equidae like Horses, Ponies, Zebra, and Asinus (Donkey) coming to evade predators easier in the wild. 

Good Morning Everyone! I hope you have enjoyed today’s Fun Fact about Perissodactyla! I know it's a bit of an odd topic but in short one of the students for the Robotics group I helped mentor invited the team to come root for him at the Boone County Fair for the several categories of Horse Shows he had entered. Thus Congrats to Liam  Ellingson for his 1st place in two separate categories (including Historical Carriage). As always thanks for reading and please have a wonderful day!

(Image from Wikimedia Commons)