perissodactyl, any member of the order Perissodactyla, a group of herbivorous mammals characterized by the possession of either one or three hoofed toes on each hindfoot. They include the horses, asses, and zebras, the tapirs, and the rhinoceroses. The name—from Greek perissos, “odd,” and daktylos, “finger”—was introduced to separate the odd-toed ungulates from the even-toed ones (Artiodactyla), all of which had previously been classified as members of a single group.
The Perissodactyla comprise three families of living mammals: six species of horses (Equidae), four species of tapirs (Tapiridae), and five species of rhinoceroses (Rhinocerotidae). These families are remnants of a group that flourished during the Paleogene and Neogene periods (from 65.5 million to 2.6 million years ago), a time when it was much richer in species and in variety of form than at present and played a dominant role in the fauna of the world. Today there are far fewer species of perissodactyls than artiodactyls, and most of the species still living are endangered, especially the rhinoceroses, the tapirs, and two of the three species of zebras.
Warren Garst/Tom Stack & AssociatesThe horses, asses, and zebras are long-legged, running forms with one functional digit in each foot and with high-crowned, molariform (i.e., modified for grinding) cheek teeth. The tapir is a rather rounded, piglike, semiamphibious forest and woodland animal with a small proboscis (trunklike snout) and a coat of short, bristly hairs. Tapirs have primitive features, such as four hoofed toes in the forefoot and three in the hind, and they have rather simple molar teeth. Rhinoceroses are massive creatures with a thick and nearly hairless hide, excepting the hairy Sumatran rhinoceros, and three digits on each foot. They bear hornlike structures on the head.
The Perissodactyla are of particular scientific interest because their fossil history is so well known. The evolution of horses from the tiny “dawn horse” (Hyracotherium, formerly Eohippus) to the present form is a classic sequence, knowledge of which has played an important role in evolutionary thought. The order also provides a notable example of parallel evolution. Following completely different evolutionary paths, both perissodactyls and artiodactyls (e.g., cattle, antelope, swine) independently evolved features such as high-crowned grinding teeth and elongated limbs with a reduced number of digits, in adaptation to a similar running (cursorial), herbivorous mode of life.
Living perissodactyls are of medium or large size. Asses and tapirs, the smallest representatives of the order, attain a length of approximately 2 to 2.5 metres (6.6 to 8.2 feet), stand 1 metre or more at the shoulder, and weigh up to 250 or 300 kg (550 to 660 pounds). The largest forms are the Indian and square-lipped rhinoceroses (Rhinoceros unicornis and Ceratotherium simum, respectively), which are 4 to 5 metres (13 to 16.4 feet) long, measure up to 2 metres at the shoulder, and often weigh more than 1,600 kg (3,500 pounds). Indricotherium (or Paraceratherium, formerly Baluchitherium), known as the giraffe rhinoceros from the Oligocene (about 30 million years ago), was the largest known land mammal, standing about 5.5 metres (18 feet) at the shoulder.
All feed either by grazing (i.e., cropping grasses) or by browsing (taking shoots and leaves from trees and bushes). The Equidae in particular were abundant and important members of the Old World fauna until their numbers were reduced by modern man. Zebras are still numerous and ecologically important in a few parts of Africa. The importance of the domestic horse and the ass in the history of humankind is very great indeed. Both have served extensively as pack, draft, and riding animals. The horse is sometimes eaten by humans, and its flesh is widely used as pet food. Through centuries of domestication, it has been developed into a number of different breeds (for more information on domesticated horses, see horse).
The living wild Equidae are confined to the Old World. Zebras and the true wild ass (Equus asinus) are African, with the zebras confined to the southern and eastern parts, while the ass originally ranged over northern and northeastern Africa.
The wild horse (Equus caballus), ancestor of the domestic horse, occupied the low country north of the great mountain ranges from Europe across central Asia; it may now be extinct as a wild animal. The half-asses, races of E. hemionus, were found in the arid zone of Asia from Persia to the Gobi Desert, as well as in Arabia, Syria, and northwestern India.
The living rhinoceroses are also Old World forms, with two species in Africa and three in Asia. There are three species of tapirs in the New World tropics, one in Middle America and two in South America. The fourth species of tapir is Asiatic.
The Equidae are highly specialized for a cursorial, herbivorous mode of life. They are absent from forests and other densely vegetated regions, but, apart from this limitation, the range of the group is relatively unrestricted by the type of vegetation, climate, and topography. The species replace one another geographically for the most part, and each occupies a somewhat different habitat.
Grass plays a major role in the diet; the zebras, for example, are known to feed on tall, coarse grasses avoided by most antelopes. Some species also take shrubs, herbs, and even bulbs. Water requirements vary in different species. In South Africa the plains zebra has been found to drink about once every 36 hours. By contrast, the mountain zebra (Equus zebra), Przewalski’s horse (Equus caballus przewalskii) and the half-ass, all living in semidesert areas, are reported to survive if they can drink once in three or four days. The ass too can manage with less water than the horse. The mountain zebra and Przewalski’s horse dig for water in dry riverbeds and depressions.
The mountain zebra occupies parts of the arid rocky escarpment separating the interior plateau of the southern African subcontinent from the coast lowlands. The race E. zebra hartmannae, still relatively numerous over much of its original range in Namibia and southern Angola, enjoys legal protection and is represented in game reserves. Conflict between these zebras and farm livestock for the meagre pasture of the semidesert regions, however, has led to a reduction in zebra numbers. The race E. zebra zebra was originally common in the mountain ranges of the Cape region but now survives only as a remnant of perhaps 100 animals. About one-half of these have sanctuary in a national park.
Leonard Lee Rue IIIThe plains zebra (E. quagga) formerly inhabited a great area of grassland and savanna from the Cape to South Sudan. The southernmost race (E. quagga quagga), which was only partly striped, became extinct in the 19th century. The populations of the other races have been much reduced in many places, and the range of the species has shrunk considerably. There are large populations in reserves, however, and the species is not in any immediate danger of extermination.
Grevy’s zebra (E. grevyi), which shares a narrow zone in northern Kenya with the plains zebra, is confined to sparsely wooded, semidesert plains and low hills in northern Kenya, southern and eastern Ethiopia, and western Somaliland. Its status appears to be generally satisfactory.
The true ass (Equus asinus), ancestor of the domestic donkey, is the equid of arid North Africa whose range extends south to approximately 6° N latitude. Its natural distribution probably included all habitable parts of North Africa. At present, asses are known from semidesert country extending from the east bank of the Nile (in Sudan) to the Red Sea and in parts of Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia. There are also isolated pockets in the Tibesti Mountains in the Sahara and in the countries of central and western Africa. There is a great deal of uncertainty about the identity of all asses now described as “wild.” Some may be merely feral (escaped or released) donkeys, and interbreeding with feral donkeys is likely to have occurred in many, if not all, existing populations.
The wild horse was widely distributed in Eurasia north of the mountain chains. The Romans encountered it in Spain. Two races have survived to modern times. A gray race, known as the tarpan, was the horse of southern Russia. It became extinct in Ukraine during the mid-19th century. The endangered Przewalski’s horse (E. caballus przewalskii), a small reddish brown race (considered a species by some authors), was last seen in the wild in 1968 in the remote semidesert steppe country on the boundary between Mongolia and China. Wild horses enjoy legal protection in Mongolia and China, but nomadic pastoralists have been encroaching on previously uninhabited country and competing with the horses for pasture and the scarce water supplies.
The half-asses, races of Equus hemionus, occupied the dry belt from Mongolia through central Asia to Syria, with a northern limit at about 50° N latitude. The chigetia or kulan (E. hemionus hemionus), which was formerly widespread over an immense region of the Gobi, now occurs only in semidesert steppe country in central Mongolia. Hunting and competition for water by pastoral tribesmen are responsible for its decline. The kulan is slightly smaller than the kiang (E. hemionus kiang), which is found on the cold arid steppes of Nepal, Sikkim, and western Tibet at altitudes of 4,270 metres (14,000 feet) and more. The kiang is now said to be rare but not endangered. The Persian onager (E. hemionus onager) lives in a lower semidesert or desert environment, with a range that formerly included northeastern Iran, northwestern Afghanistan, and Russian Turkestan. It is now extremely rare and unlikely to survive outside northeastern Iran and the Badkhyz Reserve in Turkmeniya. A small nucleus has sanctuary in the semidesert salt plains of the Kavir Protected Region in Iran. The Indian wild ass is a closely related, probably identical, form sometimes distinguished as the race E. hemionus khur. A fairly small population occupies salt flats in the Rann of Kutch, a remnant of the thousands found there at the end of World War II. The Syrian onager (E. hemionus hemippus) is the smallest member of the group and stands about one metre (three feet) at the shoulder. It was once found in the desert region of Palestine, Syria, and Iraq, and was domesticated by the ancient Sumerians before the introduction of the domestic horse into Mesopotamia. This race may survive in the Djezireh Desert, Syria, or north of the Syrian-Turkish border; if so, the number must be extremely small.
The two African species of rhinoceroses are the black or prehensile-lipped rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) and the white or square-lipped rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum). The terms black and white are misleading, since both species are grayish to brownish, but the names are well established in common usage.
Camera Press/Pictorial ParadeThe black rhinoceros was originally widespread from the Cape to southwestern Angola and throughout eastern Africa as far as Somalia, parts of Ethiopia, and Sudan. Its range also extended westward through the northern savanna zone to Lake Chad, northern Cameroon, northern Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and possibly Guinea. The animal was extremely numerous in some parts. It now occupies a much smaller area, within which it is found in scattered pockets, many of them in parks and reserves. The species still occurs in Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana, and Swaziland. South Africa and Namibia have more black rhinos than other countries, but the future of the animals outside parks and reserves is far from secure. The decline in numbers is largely the result of expanding human settlement and of poaching to obtain the horns, which fetch high prices.
The black rhinoceros occupies a variety of habitats, frequenting open plains, sparse thorn scrub, savannas, thickets, and dry forests, as well as mountain forests and moorlands at high altitudes. It is a selective browser, and grass plays a minor role in its diet. Succulent plants, such as euphorbias, assume great importance in dry habitats, and the animals appear to be able to survive without free water where these plants are abundant. Where water is available, drinking is regular and frequent; the animals also may dig for water in dry riverbeds.
The much larger white rhinoceros is a grazing species with a broad square muzzle. It prefers short grasses 7 to 10 cm (about 3 to 4 inches) high. The animal makes much use of shade trees for resting and is dependent on surface water. The range of the white rhinoceros is markedly discontinuous. South of the Zambezi River it was once extremely common over a fairly large area of bushveld. It has since become confined to the game reserves in South Africa, where the population has risen; some of the animals have been redistributed to several other parks and reserves in Southern Africa.
A northern race formerly inhabited South Sudan and adjacent areas of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, extending westward into the Central African Republic. It has also been much reduced and is considered probably extinct in those countries. A small number were moved to a private reserve in Kenya.
The smallest of the three Asian rhinoceroses (also the smallest living member of the family) is the Sumatran, or Asiatic, two-horned rhinoceros, Didermocerus (or Dicerorhinus) sumatrensis, standing 1 to 1.5 metres (3 to 5 feet) at the shoulder. It was originally found in the foothills of the eastern Himalayas, mainland Southeast Asia, and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. Small isolated populations still occur in a few widely separated localities in (Myanmar) Burma, Thailand, West (Peninsular) Malaysia, Sumatra, and East Malaysia (Sabah) and possibly in other nearby territories. The total population is thought to number between 100 and 170. Some of the survivors in Sumatra are protected in reserves.
Both the Sumatran and Javan rhinoceroses inhabit forests as well as marshy areas and regions of thick bush and bamboo, climbing actively in mountainous country. They are mainly browsers. The Javan, or lesser one-horned, rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus) occupied the islands of Java, Borneo, and Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, and a region extending northward through Myanmar into Assam and eastern Bengal. It is now restricted to the Udjung-Kulon Reserve in western Java, where there are at least 25 and perhaps as many as 50 to 60 animals.
The great Indian, or one-horned, rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) is more or less equivalent in size to the square-lipped rhinoceros and is distinguishable from the smaller Javan rhinoceros by the presence of a large horn, tubercles on its skin, and a different arrangement of skin folds. It previously occupied an extensive range across northern India and Nepal from Assam in the east to the Indus valley in the west. It is found in a range of habitats—open grassland, savanna, forests, and hilly country—and appears to be mainly a grazer, raiding grain fields in some areas. Hunting and the pressure of expanding human populations have greatly reduced both the range and numbers of this animal. It is now found almost entirely in eight reserves or sanctuaries in India, notably the Kaziranga Sanctuary in Assam (estimated population 300) and in the Rapti valley region of the Nepal Tarai. The total population is estimated at about 600 animals, and the prospects for survival appear to be reasonably good.
The Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus), largest member of the family Tapiridae, is found in Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, as far north as the Myanmar-Thailand border in latitude 18° N. It is found from sea level to high altitudes and occupies forests and thickets but may feed in more open areas. It is still abundant and widespread.
The three New World species occupy distinct, nonoverlapping but contiguous ranges. The mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque), the smallest and most primitive, inhabits the temperate-zone forests and bordering grasslands of the Andes in Colombia and Ecuador and in northern Peru, up to altitudes of nearly 4,600 metres (about 15,000 feet). Agricultural and pastoral expansion resulted in some decline in the status of this species, but it is still fairly common. The Central American, or Baird’s, tapir (T. bairdii) is the largest of the American species. It is essentially Middle American, with a range extending from Mexico into coastal Ecuador, and it occupies undisturbed climax rainforest. It is shy and adjusts poorly to the disturbance caused by settlement. This disturbance, together with the destruction of habitat accompanying human occupation, has greatly reduced its range and numbers. The species is said to be much in need of active conservation. The most widespread species is the Brazilian tapir (T. terrestris), which is found throughout the Brazilian subregion east of the Andes and in a small area west of the Andes in northwestern Venezuela and northern Colombia. Like the other species, it is largely a forest form requiring the proximity of water. The three New World tapirs are mainly browsers and are remarkably similar in habits.
The Equidae communicate by means of calls and changes in facial expression. Six different sounds are made by the plains zebra. A whinny, consisting of a series of two- or three-syllabic “ha” sounds, serves to maintain contact between members of a group. The repertoire includes an alarm call (“i-ha”), an alarm snort, a drawn-out snort of satisfaction, and a squeal of pain and fear. Other species utter similar sounds, the whinny of the horse and the bray of the ass being well-known examples. Characteristic facial expressions have been described for greeting ceremonies (mouth open, ears up), threat (mouth open, ears back), and submission (mouth open, nibbling movements, ears down). In all species studied except the horse, females assume a particular expression (“mating face”) when permitting the male to mount.
In the rhinoceroses and tapirs, snorting, squealing, bellowing, and, in some forms, whistling sounds play a major role in communication. Visual signals are not well developed in these nonsocial animals, but a few facial expressions are used.
The Perissodactyla are mainly grazers or browsers. The quality and quantity of grasses available to grazing species may vary considerably with the season and the area. The animals may accordingly move great distances to reach attractive sources of food. Migrations of plains zebras to succulent pastures during the rainy season are a feature of the Serengeti Plains and the Etosha National Park in Africa. The distribution of asses, half-asses, and horses inhabiting arid areas largely follows that of rainfall and pasture.
The food of the browsers is fairly readily available throughout the year; thus, species in this category are relatively sedentary. The browsing rhinoceroses may break down trees and shrubs, and use their forelimbs to help get at otherwise inaccessible leaves and twigs. Food is plucked with the lips. In the tapirs, the upper lip is fused with the short proboscis. The rhinoceroses (excluding the white) have a pointed upper lip with a fingerlike process that is used to pluck leaves and twigs. The white rhinoceros, with its broad square muzzle, is the most specialized grazing rhinoceros, feeding on grass.
In both the mountain and plains zebras the family group is the basic social unit. It generally consists of a single adult male and two or three adult females with their foals. The groups are stable, apparently because of strong mutual ties among the females rather than because of herding by the male. The stallion is dominant, and there is a hierarchy among the mares, the highest ranking (alpha) animal usually leading the group. Other males are either solitary or live in bachelor groups of two or three, sometimes up to 10. Juveniles leave the family group when they attain sexual maturity at one and one-half to two years. When large aggregations occur on favoured grazing grounds, the groups retain their identity. Among Grevy’s zebras and wild asses, territorial males and groups of mares and foals and of stallions are found. There is no evidence for territorial behaviour among any of the zebras except Grevy’s. Individual groups occupy home ranges that overlap to some degree with those of other groups.
The social organization of other equids is not as well documented. Observers studying the wild horse and half-asses have noted that females and juveniles form a group dominated by a single stallion, which keeps them together by active herding; the unattached males are solitary or live in small herds.
The pattern of social organization among the rhinoceroses is quite different from that of the Equidae. Dominant adult males of the white rhinoceros occupy territories that, in the KwaZulu-Natal reserves, average about 200 hectares (500 acres). Within its area a male may tolerate subadult or aged bulls, which have subordinate status. Adult females accompanied by their calves inhabit home ranges encompassing the territories of six or seven dominant bulls. Juveniles consort with other juveniles or with calfless females, but groups of more than two usually do not stay together long.
The black rhinoceros is basically solitary. Adults of both sexes usually occupy home ranges of 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) or more, the size depending on the characteristics of the environment; occasionally the ranges may be as small as 200 hectares, however. There is a good deal of overlap in the utilization of these home ranges.
The Asiatic rhinoceroses also are essentially solitary, but detailed information on the nature of the areas they inhabit is not available. Individual great Indian rhinoceroses are said to occupy tracts as small as 8 to 20 hectares (20 to 50 acres).
Little is known about the social organization or territorial behaviour of the tapirs. All species are reported to be found alone or in pairs.
Male zebras and horses follow mares in estrus. The stallion, after smelling the spot where a mare has urinated or defecated, exhibits “flehmen” (a characteristic display in which the head is lifted and the upper lip raised) and then urinates or defecates on the same spot. In similar fashion, members of stallion groups often urinate or defecate consecutively; communal dung heaps formed by five to eight animals often arise in this way. The significance of such behaviour is not clear.
Among the Rhinocerotidae excretory products play an important role in marking territories and home ranges. Dominant male white rhinoceroses defecate almost entirely on heaps within their territories. They then scatter the material by kicking vigorously, presumably leaving an individual scent mark in this manner. In addition, they urinate in a ritualized fashion, spraying the urine in powerful jets in a manner peculiar to them and shown by no other sex or age group. Other members of the population also use dung heaps (either in territories or in communal areas, such as along paths) but not exclusively, and they do not scatter dung.
In the black rhinoceros, dung-scattering behaviour does not appear to be exclusive to dominant males. The function of the communal heaps may be mainly to establish the presence of the inhabitant in his home range, and to maintain contact between known animals.
Dung heaps and urine spraying are also observed among other species of rhinoceroses and among tapirs; their significance is presumably of a similar nature.
The pattern of fighting is related to the amount of lethal equipment the various groups possess. The Equidae, unarmoured, do not employ stylized fighting techniques to reduce the danger of serious injury—as among certain other species. Fighting is largely confined to adult males competing for estrous mares. Various techniques occur in the zebras, which may serve as an example of the family. Circling, neck fighting, biting (either in a standing or sitting position), rearing combined with biting and kicking, and kicking on the run all are used, either alone or in combination. No set pattern is followed.
Fights among rhinoceroses consist of charges and striking with the horns, usually accompanied by vocal threats. Goring is not common, the stylized pattern having probably been evolved to minimize the danger of serious injury from the formidable horns.
Mutual grooming is well known among horses. Two animals stand facing in opposite directions and groom each other by nibbling at the root of the tail and the base of the neck. The plains zebra behaves similarly and so, presumably, do other members of the family.
Zebras greet each other simply by nose-to-nose contact, except that adult stallions go through a ceremony involving nose-to-genital contact. Nose-to-nose greeting is also characteristic of tapirs and rhinoceroses. The latter also rub their bodies together.
Courtship is relatively simple among the social equids. The true ass is apparently exceptional. The partners are strangers when the first approaches are made and the female requires violent subjugation by the male, which bites, kicks, and chases her before she will stand for him. This may be the result of separation of the sexes outside the mating season. The wild horse and the plains zebra are not at all violent. The stallion often grooms the mare before attempting to mount. The estrous mare (especially, or exclusively, young mares in the case of the plains zebra) adopts a typical posture with legs slightly apart, tail lifted, and, except in the horse, a characteristic facial expression (the “mating face” already mentioned).
The more or less solitary rhinoceroses and tapirs go through a more elaborate courtship, presumably because the partners are strangers. After a chase, the male and female may engage in low-intensity fighting, ending with the male laying his head on the female’s rump and then mounting and copulating for an extended period. Several males may mate with an estrous female.
The perissodactyls bear well-developed (precocial) young, usually a single offspring. After the mother has assisted in removing the placenta and has licked her offspring in the usual mammalian fashion, the young animal soon attempts to stand. A plains zebra foal has been observed to stand quite firmly 14 minutes after birth, and a black rhinoceros calf 25 minutes after birth.
Newly born equids follow any nearby object during the first few days of life. At this time, zebra mares drive away all other zebras from their foals. The behaviour ensures that the foal will form a bond with its mother during the initial period of imprinting. Foals follow their mothers closely and are groomed frequently.
Although precocial, black rhinoceros calves appear to have a lying-out period; that is, an initial period when they rest quietly in thick cover except when being suckled. Thereafter they follow their mothers closely. A young white rhinoceros tends to walk ahead of the mother and may be guided by her horn.
Most young perissodactyls remain with their mothers until the next offspring is born. A young rhinoceros may, therefore, accompany its mother until it is two and one-half years old or older. Although grazing starts early, suckling proceeds for a considerable time, perhaps for its psychological rather than its physiological value.
As in other mammals, play is a prominent form of behaviour among young perissodactyls. Zebras up to the age of one year frequently engage in running games. Foals gallop wildly about on their own, jumping and kicking up their heels, sometimes chasing other animals, such as gazelles, mongooses, or birds. In groups they play catching games, running after one another in close succession. Mock fighting sometimes takes place. Groups of adults have also been seen to chase foal groups in play, and indeed stallion groups carry out playful gallops. Stallions also engage in play greeting and in mock fights.
Playful romping and mock fighting with the horns are common among rhinoceros calves. Young tapirs play running games.
Behaviour for the care of the body is widespread among the perissodactyls. Equids frequently roll in dry, loose soil forming rolling hollows—a common feature of zebra country.
Wallowing, which may help regulate body temperature, probably is mainly a form of self-grooming; it is practiced by all species of rhinoceroses. They often spend hours lying in pools during the middle of the day in hot weather. Mud of suitable consistency induces wallowing, which may be followed by sand bathing. Prolonged rubbing on tree trunks or suitable stumps follows a wallow; old rubbing stumps and stones may take on a shine from repeated use.
Tapirs may have the most pronounced tendency to bathe and wallow, but few details of their behaviour are known. They are also said to enter water when disturbed.
Female equids of all the species for which information is available attain puberty at about one year, but are not normally successfully mated before the age of two to two and one-half years, and possibly as late as three to four years in the case of Grevy’s zebra. Zebras probably breed until about 20 years of age. The domestic species are seasonally polyestrous (repeatedly fertile), coming into breeding condition in spring and, unless mated, undergoing repeated estrous cycles at intervals of approximately three weeks until the end of the summer. The wild species studied also tend to mate seasonally; most young are born in spring and summer.
The gestation period of equids is between 11 and 12 months. In most species a postpartum estrus occurs, usually within two weeks of the birth of the young; thus, the maximal potential reproductive rate is one young per year. This potential is not always attained. Only about 50 percent of domestic mares that are mated produce foals, and nearly half of a study group of plains zebra mares bore only one foal in three years.
The gestation period of three species of rhinoceroses is about 15 to 17 months. For the Sumatran rhinoceros the period is said to be only seven months. No information is available for the Javan rhinoceros. Female white and black rhinoceroses attain sexual maturity at the age of four to five years and are capable of calving at intervals of approximately 2 1/2 years. Rhinoceroses probably breed until between 30 and 40 years old. The white tends to have a mating peak in spring, corresponding with the flush of green grass, and a calving peak in autumn.
The Malayan and Brazilian tapirs have gestation periods of 13 months’ duration. The Brazilian tapir is reported to mate before the onset of the rainy season.
The skin of rhinoceroses is extraordinarily thick. The great Indian and Javan rhinoceroses are covered with large, practically immovable plates, separated by joints of thinner skin to permit movement. The two species differ in the arrangement of the folds. The hair of all rhinoceroses is sparse or absent except that of young Sumatran rhinoceroses, which have a dense coat of crisp, black hair. The skin of the tapirs is also thick with a sparse covering of short hairs arranged in irregular groups. The equids have a normal hide with a well-developed hairy coat.
The “horns” of the rhinoceroses are noteworthy structures of epidermal origin. The horn is composed of a mass of fused epidermal cells that are impregnated with a tough, fibrous protein (keratin) and that rest on a roughened bony cushion on the fused nasal bones. The male Javan rhinoceros has a short horn about 25 centimetres (10 inches) long; the horn of the female is rudimentary. The great Indian rhinoceros has a single horn up to 60 centimetres (25 inches) long. The other species of rhinoceroses have a second horn that stands on a protuberance of the bones (frontals) between the eyes. Hornlike structures were also present in the titanotheres and extinct rhinoceroses.
In all living perissodactyls the terminal digital bones are flattened and triangular, with evenly rounded free edges, and are encased by keratinous hooves derived from the integument. The single hoof of the equids—the only mammals to walk on the tips of single digits—is the most highly developed structure of this kind among mammals. The keratinous wall is analogous to the nail of mammals that have claws or nails.
The vertebral column acts as a firm girder, with high dorsal (neural) spines on the thoracic vertebrae, above the forelimbs and ribs. Spines and ribs serve as compression struts above and below. The column balances largely on the forelegs and is pushed from behind by the hindlegs, which are the main propellants. This skeletal structure permits running and also enables great weights to be borne in such animals as the rhinoceroses. There are never fewer than 22 thoracolumbar (trunk) vertebrae.
The neck, or cervical, vertebrae are opisthocoelous—i.e., with the bodies (centra) of the vertebrae hollowed behind to take the convex heads of the succeeding centra. This feature facilitates rotatory movement of the neck and is most highly developed in the horses.
The shoulder blade is long and narrow with a small coracoid process (a ridge to which muscles are attached) and a low spine. There is no clavicle (collarbone). The pelvic girdle has a broad, vertically raised ilium to which are attached the large gluteal (thigh) muscles, important for locomotion, and the abdominal muscles, which carry the weight of the belly.
There is a clear evolutionary tendency in the Equidae for the limbs to become long and slender, with a reduction in the number of digits in the swift-running forms. These changes are accompanied by an increase in rigidity and specialization for movement fore and aft. The upper (proximal) segments, the humerus of the forelimb and the femur of the hindlimb, have remained short. In contrast the lower (distal) parts, consisting of an anterior radius and posterior ulna in the forelimb and an anterior tibia and posterior fibula in the hindlimb, have become longer and slimmer. The humerus is short and broad. Its articulation with the radius and ulna only permits fore-and-aft movement. The proximal end of the stout femur has a third projection, or trochanter, in addition to the usual mammalian two, which serves as an additional point of attachment for the large locomotory muscles of the hindlimbs.
The anatomical feature of the order now considered most significant is that the axis of symmetry of the limbs passes through the third or middle toe, the most strongly developed and the one on which most of the weight is borne. This is called the mesaxonic condition and is contrasted with the paraxonic condition of the Artiodactyla, in which the axis passes between the third and fourth toes.
Originally, the five toes of the limb were held in the semidigitigrade position—i.e., with the weight of the body being borne on the soles of the toes and on the lower ends of the elongate metacarpal and metatarsal bones of the forefeet and hindfeet. The upper (proximal) ends of these bones were raised above the ground, a condition still to be seen in the tapirs.
As the third digit became increasingly dominant, it became longer and thicker. The upper ends of the third metacarpus and metatarsus broadened and forced the other digits to the side. The first (inner) digit was the first to disappear. The earliest known forms already bore only three digits on the hindfoot. The loss of the first toe on the front foot led to the four-toed condition common in the Eocene; the fifth digit persisted, although it was somewhat weak. The tapirs, with four toes in front and three behind, have retained this early condition.
The fifth digit of the hindfoot was the next to disappear in the evolutionary sequence, and all known forms beyond the lower Oligocene had only three toes in each foot. The living rhinoceroses illustrate this condition. A massive limb with a broad foot is essential in such heavy animals. The feet have cushions of elastic connective tissue well suited to bear the weight of the body.
In the most highly specialized forms, the second and fourth digits also underwent reduction. These digits are retained in the living Equidae only as functionless, vestigial slivers of bone on either side of the third metacarpal and metatarsal.
With reduction in the number of digits, the third has assumed a progressively more vertical position. Its terminal joint, or phalanx, has become larger and the hoof surrounding it bigger and thicker. At the same time the ulna, the smaller bone of the forelimb, decreased in size until, in the modern Equidae, its upper end fused with the radius and its lower end remained merely as part of the articulating surface of the radius with the wrist bones (carpals). In the hindlimb, the fibula became reduced in similar fashion. It articulates with the ankle bones (tarsals) only in a few extinct forms, such as the titanotheres. In the tapirs and rhinoceroses it is slender. In the equids the proximal end remains as a small splint of bone, while the distal end has fused with the tibia.
The arrangement of the small bones of the carpus (“wrist”) and tarsus (ankle) is another characteristic feature of perissodactyl limbs. In most other mammalian orders, the carpals and tarsals provide the limbs with regions of flexibility. Their development in the perissodactyls has been toward increasing rigidity, following the trend in the limbs as a whole. The basic mammalian arrangement is one of three rows of bones: a proximal row of three, adjacent to the lower arm and leg bones; an intermediate row of four (the centralia); and a distal row of five (carpalia of the forefoot, tarsalia of the hind), one to each digit. The centralia, carpalia, and tarsalia are numbered one to four or five, beginning on the side of the thumb and big toe. In all orders the number of wrist and ankle bones has been reduced. Usually only one of the centralia, known as the navicular, remains, while there are the same number of carpalia and tarsalia as there are digits.
An interlocking plan is characteristic of the Perissodactyla. In the forefoot, the third distal carpal (the magnum or capitate) is enlarged and interlocks with the proximal carpals. The elongated third metacarpal thrusts up against these interlocked bones. In the equids, distal carpal I (the trapezium) is absent, and the arrangement in the hindfoot is similar. In the most advanced, modern forms metatarsus III thrusts against the enlarged and flattened tarsal III (ectocuneiform), and this in turn is in contact with the large, flat navicular (centrale II and III). The navicular abuts on the flattened astragalus (or talus), the intermediate bone of the proximal row. The articulation between the upper surface of the astragalus and the tibia is pulley-like and permits only fore-and-aft movement of the limb.
The full complement of mammalian teeth consists of three incisors, one canine, four premolars, and three molars in each half of each jaw. The arrangement may be expressed by the formula 3 . 1 . 4 . 33 . 1 . 4 . 3 = 44 teeth. The figures represent the number of incisors, canines, premolars, and molars in each half of the upper (above the line) and lower (below) jaws, respectively.
The Condylarthra, a group of mammals that first appeared in the Paleocene (about 65.5 million to 55.8 million years ago) and were ancestral to most of the later and recent hoofed mammals, had a full complement of teeth. In many of the early perissodactyls, only the first lower premolar had been lost. The subsequent evolutionary sequence led to losses and specializations of the incisors and canines. Lengthening of the facial part of the skull resulted in the formation of a gap, the diastema, between the incisors and the premolars. The first upper premolar was reduced or lost in consequence. The canines, when present, were situated in this diastema, as they are in male horses.
Among the living perissodactyls, the tapirs have the least specialized battery of teeth. In this, as in many other features, they have remained primitive. The dental for mula of the family Tapiridae is: (2–3) . 1 . 3 . 3 3 . 1 . 4 . 3 = 40–42 teeth. The first upper premolar is noteworthy in being the only premolar with a milk, or deciduous, predecessor.
The cutting teeth are reduced in the Rhinocerotidae. Incisors and canines are absent in the two African forms. The Asiatic species have one or two upper, but generally no lower, incisors in each half of the jaw. They have no upper canines; the Javan and Sumatran rhinoceroses have one short, sharp lower canine on each side. There are three upper and lower molar teeth in all five species. The white and Sumatran rhinoceroses have three premolars, and the others have three or four premolars. The dental formula for the family is set up, therefore, as follows: 0 . (0–1) . (3–4) . 3(0–2) . 0 . (3–4) . 3 = 24–30 teeth. The dental formula of the Equidae is 3 . 1 . 3 . 3 3 . 1 . (3–4) . 3 = 40–42 teeth.
The form of the premolars and molars is of great interest and their evolutionary history has been studied in some detail. Primitive, browsing members of the order had brachydont cheek teeth (i.e., with low crowns and long, narrow root canals), with separate low, rounded cusps—the bunodont condition. Increasing specialization for grazing resulted in fusion of the cusps into ridges (lophs), thus teeth of this kind are called lophodont. Lower molars typically have two transverse lophs, the protoloph and the metaloph. In the upper molars these ridges are fused with a longitudinal ridge (ectoloph), which runs along the outer edge of the tooth. Further development leads to a convoluted arrangement of the lophs, such teeth being termed selenolophodont.
Associated with these changes in the tooth surfaces is a tendency for the crown to become higher. High-crowned teeth are termed hypsodont. The hollows between the lophs of hypsodont teeth are filled with a deposit of secondary cement, which strengthens the teeth and makes them more resistant to wear. A further evolutionary trend is for premolars to become as large as molars. Where the process of molarization is complete, as in horses, all grinding teeth are identical.
The Tapiridae have primitive brachydont premolars and molars. They possess two simple transverse lophs, and are thus termed bilophodont. They lack secondary cement on the crowns.
The Sumatran rhinoceros, the most primitive of the living rhinoceroses, and the Javan rhinoceros have similar brachydont, lophodont cheek teeth. The great Indian rhinoceros, which is less of a specialized browser, has hypselodont (hypsodont and selenodont) premolars, with a layer of cement on the crowns. The black rhinoceros has brachydont and lophodont teeth, with a thin layer of cement. The white rhinoceros is more specialized, for the cheek teeth are hypselodont and have a thick cement layer.
The grinding teeth of the Equidae are highly specialized, high crowned, with a complicated selenodont surface and thick cement deposits.
The stomach of perissodactyls is small, simple, and undivided. In the horse its capacity is only 8.5 percent of the whole digestive system. The comparable figure for the ox is 71 percent. The intestine is very long, and the cecum (blind gut) and colon are huge and sacculated (i.e., with many blind pockets). Here food is macerated and fermented and the fibrous portions are dissolved. The liver has no gall bladder.
The Perissodactyla appeared early in the Eocene, about 55 million to 40 million years ago. Together with most other ungulate mammals, they were probably derived from the Condylarthra. The condylarths were abundant in Europe and North America, mainly during the Paleocene (65.5 million to 55.8 million years ago). Condylarths were unspecialized mammals, rather carnivore-like in appearance. The larger species attained the size of tapirs. The limbs were fairly short and primitive but the third toe was somewhat enlarged and the phalanges ended in hooves. There was a full complement of teeth with some specialization of bunodont molars for herbivorous diet.
The earliest horses appeared during the early Eocene in Europe and North America. They are generally known as Eohippus (“dawn horse”), but Hyracotherium is the correct taxonomic designation. Some species of these little forest-dwelling, browsing animals were no larger than a terrier. They had moderately long, slender limbs with only four toes in the forefoot and three in the hindfoot, all equipped with hooves. The molars were essentially bunodont (with low, rounded cusps) and the premolars simple.
Hyracotherium-like animals persisted in Europe until the end of the Eocene. Another group, the paleotheres or “native” European horses, evolved as a specialized side branch, which died out in the Oligocene. North America was the centre of horse evolution. During the Eocene, Hyracotherium was succeeded by forms such as Orohippus and Epihippus, which are known only from that epoch.
The Oligocene (33.9 million to 23 million years ago) saw a major change with the appearance of three-toed horses, Mesohippus, Miohippus, and others. All of the premolars were similar to the molars, low-crowned but lophodont (ridged). Anchitherium was an early Miocene form as large as a modern pony, which migrated from North America to Europe. These primitive three-toed horses or anchitheres survived until Pliocene times, some of their descendants attaining the size of a rhinoceros.
The main course of horse evolution entered a third stage in North America in the Miocene Epoch (23 million to 5.3 million years ago). A line of grazing horses developed, almost certainly to exploit the new grasslands that were spreading over the surface of the earth. The degree of lophodonty of the molariform teeth increased, changing the pattern of the crests on the surface and increasing their grinding efficiency. Of greater importance, these teeth became hypsodont (high-crowned) and thus maintained a good grinding surface as grinding of the harsh, siliceous grass caused them to wear down. Another substance, cement, came to supplement the dentine and enamel forming the teeth of earlier types, and provided additional material to resist abrasion. The evolution of these specialized teeth was a tremendous advance.
The limbs of the grazing horses became increasingly rigid and specialized for fore-and-aft movement, better fitting the animals for running in open country. In Merychippus the ulna was fused with the radius and the fibula was much reduced. In some advanced forms the central toe was much larger than the two lateral toes and carried most of the weight of the body on a hoof much like that of modern horses.
A number of evolutionary lines developed during the Pliocene, which lasted from 5.3 million to 2.6 million years ago. Pliohippus of North America is probably the line from which modern horses have come. The genus Equus is characteristic of the Pleistocene when it developed in North America and spread to all continents except Australia. By the end of the Pleistocene, horses had become extinct in the New World.
Another group entirely, the titanotheres (Brontotheriidae), evolved independently from Hyracotherium-like ancestors and became abundant in North America during the Eocene and Oligocene but disappeared by the Miocene. They were also found in Asia and eastern Europe. The end forms, such as Brontops and Brontotherium, were huge, the largest standing 2.5 metres (8 feet) at the shoulder. They had long, low skulls and a small brain. Many species bore a pair of large, hornlike processes on the front of the head.
The chalicotheres (Chalicotheriidae) were moderately large animals that appeared in Eurasia and North America during the Eocene. Thereafter they evolved mainly in the Old World, disappearing from America in the mid-Miocene but persisting in Asia and Africa until they died out in the Pleistocene. Early members of the group such as Paleomoropus, from the lower Eocene, resembled contemporary equids. The Miocene Moropus typifies the peculiar characteristics of later forms. It was horselike, but the front legs were longer than the rear. Each foot bore three toes which ended in large, fissured phalanges bearing claws that may have been used for digging up roots and bulbs.
The fossil and living tapirs, together with similar extinct forms such as the lophiodonts, constitute a small, fairly uniform group.
Homogalax, Lophiodon and other tapir-like animals appeared in the Eocene. Some were close to the ancestry of both rhinoceroses and tapirs, and other evolutionary lines left no descendants. Protapirus from the Oligocene of Europe and North America was the forerunner of the modern tapirs. These tapirids persisted until the Pleistocene, when climatic changes led to their extinction.
The fossil history of the rhinoceroses is far more complex. They evolved from the early tapiroids but diverged from that group. Unlike the equids, they have tended to grow large, with short, stout limbs with little reduction in the digits. Although the premolars have tended to molarize, the molar cusp pattern is simple; the teeth seldom become hypsodont, and cement occurs rarely.
The Hyracodontidae, or running rhinoceroses, from the Eocene and Oligocene of North America and Asia were the most primitive. Hyracodon had long, slender legs with three toes on each foot and typically rhinocerotid cheek teeth.
The amynodonts are known from the late Eocene and Oligocene of Eurasia and America and lived in Asia until the Miocene. They were a side branch, perhaps derived from primitive hyracodonts. Metamynodon and some other forms were about as large as hippopotamuses and may have lived in rivers. The premolars were simple and the incisors reduced, but canines and molars were enlarged.
True rhinoceroses are probably also descended from early hyracodonts. They became numerous in the Oligocene as large animals with molariform premolars. Many side branches evolved. Trigonias still had four front toes but Caenopus, another Oligocene representative, had the three toes common to all later rhinoceroses. Like its relatives of that period, Caenopus was fairly small, about the size of a tapir, and hornless.
One spectacular group contained giant hornless creatures, such as Indricotherium (or Paraceratherium, formerly Baluchitherium) from the Oligocene and Miocene of Asia; the largest of known land mammals, they stood 5.5 metres (about 18 feet) high at the shoulder and had a long neck and long forelegs.
Rhinoceroses died out in North America during the Pliocene, but in Eurasia many different species survived to the Pleistocene. One of the most familiar of these later rhinoceroses is the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta), which was depicted by Stone Age artists and is known from nearly intact specimens. The surviving rhinoceroses represent remnants of once varied and abundant stock; the genera have little direct relationship to one another.
Skeletal features are of greatest importance in classifying the Perissodactyla. They are, of course, the only criteria applicable to fossil forms. Distinguishing characteristics of the skull include the relative length of the facial region, length and form of the nasal bones, presence of a postorbital bar and of hornlike structures. The form and number of teeth, presence of a diastema, number of molariform premolars, the height of the cheek teeth, their cusp structure and the presence or absence of cement on the grinding surfaces all are particularly valuable taxonomic features. The limb structure is also a useful aid to classification, especially the length of upper and lower portions, the degree to which the ulna and the fibula are reduced and fused, respectively, with the radius and the tibia, the number and form of carpal and tarsal bones, and the number and relative size of the digits.
Among living perissodactyls, body size, form of the upper lip, number and length of horns, structure of the skin and colour pattern are the most important features for classification.
The classification presented here follows that of U.S. paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson, which is generally accepted but modified in some fairly minor ways by other authors. The term Mesaxonia, introduced by the 19th-century paleontologist O.C. Marsh, is essentially synonymous with Perissodactyla. Simpson used it as a convenient designation for the superorder containing the single order Perissodactyla, as he used the parallel name Paraxonia for the superorder with the one order Artiodactyla.
Groups indicated by a dagger (†) are known only as fossils.
Systems of classification frequently differ in the status given to the chalicotheres. Simpson takes the view that their ancestry was probably equid and almost certainly hippomorph. He holds that the significance of their claws has been over-emphasized and has tended to distract attention from their true affinities. Accordingly he places them in the superfamily Chalicotheroidea of the suborder Hippomorpha. In the classification presented above they are given their own suborder, Ancylopoda, following the views of Alfred S. Romer, another authority on the group.
The forms united in the family Lophiodontidae by Simpson, followed here, are thought by some recent workers to warrant separation into three families. Romer distinguishes the families Lophialetidae, Deperetellidae, and Lophiodontidae. The affinities of certain primitive genera such as Hyrachus and Colonoceras remain controversial; Simpson places them in the family Hyrachyidae, superfamily Rhinocerotoidea. Romer considers them to be early tapiroids and assigns them to the Helatidae (superfamily Tapiroidea). The difference of opinion is slight, for it is generally agreed that the hyrachids are close in the common stem of the tapiroids and rhinocerotoids.