Hoof

The hoof (pl.: hooves or hoofs) is the tip of a toe of an ungulate mammal, which is covered and strengthened with a thick and horny keratin covering. Hooves are present in some even-toed and odd-toed placental mammals, as well as in some nonmammalians. Artiodactyls (Ancient Greek: ἄρτιος : ártios "even", and δάκτυλος : dáktulos "toe") are even-toed ungulates, species whose feet have an even number of digits; the ruminants with two digits are the most numerous, e.g. giraffe, deer, bison, cattle, goats, gazelles, antelopes, pigs, and sheep. The feet of perissodactyl (Ancient Greek: περισσός : perissós : uneven", and δάκτυλος : dáktulos "toe") mammals have an odd number of toes, e.g. the horse, the rhinoceros, and the tapir. Although hooves are limb structures primarily found in placental mammals, hadrosaurs such as Edmontosaurus possessed hoofed hindlimbs. The marsupial Chaeropus also had hooves.