Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • An order or a suborder of ungulate or hoofed mammals which are cloven-footed or even-toed and have hoofs in pairs (either two or four), as all ruminants (Bovidœ, Cervidœ, etc.) and hog-like ungulates (Hippopotamidœ, Suidœ, etc.): opposed to odd-toed ungulates or Perissodactyla, as the horse, rhinoceros, tapir, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun plural (Zoöl.) One of the divisions of the ungulate animals. The functional toes of the hind foot are even in number, and the third digit of each foot (corresponding to the middle finger in man) is asymmetrical and paired with the fourth digit, as in the hog, the sheep, and the ox; -- opposed to Perissodactyla.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an order of hooved mammals of the subclass Eutheria (including pigs and peccaries and hippopotami and members of the suborder Ruminantia) having an even number of functional toes

Etymologies

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Examples

  • They are still members of the order artiodactyla along with all the other kosher mammals.

    Discourse.net: Just Passing Through 2009

  • The 48 mammal species include Chacma baboon Papio cynocephalus ursinus, 5 species of carnivora including the blackbacked jackal Canis mesomelas, ardwolf Proteles cristatus and serval Felis serval, 11 species of artiodactyla and 16 species of rodentia, 11 of which last are endemic to South Africa.

    UKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, South Africa 2008

  • In all, 4 species of insectivora, 4 bats, 5 lagomorphs, 32 rodents, 18 carnivores, 9 artiodactyla, 5 lizards and 3 snakes are recorded in the Tuvan reserves, among them 22 locally rare species of mammal. 41 species of mammal are recorded for the Mongolian portion.

    Uvs Nuur Basin, Russian Federation, Republic of Tuva and Mongolia 2008

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  •     A, Yak (Bos grunniens).  B, Moose (Alces malchis).  C, Peccary (Dicotyles torquatus).  Left fore foot of each.  s, scaphoid ;  l, lunar ;  c, cuneiform ;  t, trapezoid ;  m, magnum ;  u, unciform ;  p, pisiform ;  II, III, IV, V, second, third, fourth, and fifth digits ;  1, proximal phalanx ;  2, median phalanx ;  3, ultimate phalanx.  The fifth digit of a moose is moved outward to show its length.  In Bos and Alces metacarpals III and IV are fused in a single canon-bone.

    Century Dictionary, Vol. I, Page 328, Artificially to Artless


    This cut belongs under [Artiodactyla, as do the definitions above. I put it here because I couldn’t bear seperating them.]

    October 15, 2011

  • About 10 million years after the meteor struck, the first hoofed mammals, or ungulates, appeared. One order of ungulates, called Perissodactyla, includes just a handful of living species, such as horses,hinoceroses, and tapirs. The other order, Artiodactyla, is much larer and includes pigs, cows, goats, sheep, camels, llamas, giraffes, deer, antelopes, camels, hippopotamuses, bison, and water buffalos. Both orders of ungulates might be called tiptoers. Their hooves are actually outsized toenails, and they walk like ballerinas en pointe. . . ."Perissodactyl" means "odd-toed": the foot's axis cuts through the center of the middle digit, and the animals walk either on three toes, like rhinos and tapirs, or just one, like horses, zebras, and donkeys. "Artiodactyl" means "even-toed": the first digit (the thumb or big toe) is absent, and the feet are symmetrical, with the axis running between the third and fourth digits . . . . they appear to have a single hoof split down the center, what the King James Bible describes as the "cloven foot."
    Mark Essig, Lesser Beasts: A Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig (New York: Basic Books, 2015), ch. 1.

    May 15, 2016