nonungulate

Nonungulate is a descriptive term used in zoology for animals that are not ungulates. Ungulates are hoofed mammals, traditionally grouped into Perissodactyla (odd-toed) and Artiodactyla (even-toed). The label nonungulate is informal and not a formal clade, but it helps contrast the broad diversity of mammals that lack true hooves with the hoofed groups. Consequently, nonungulates include most other living mammals, such as primates, carnivorans, rodents, lagomorphs, bats, marsupials, and monotremes, as well as many aquatic and burrowing forms.

Nonungulates display wide variation in size, diet, and lifestyle. They may be carnivorous, omnivorous, or herbivorous; they can be terrestrial, arboreal, or aquatic; and they exhibit a range of locomotor strategies and reproductive modes. Hoof structure is absent or rudimentary in nonungulates, and their limb anatomy generally differs from that of ungulates.

In usage, nonungulate is primarily a descriptive term rather than a taxonomic group, used when comparing to ungulates or when discussing mammalian diversity lacking hoofed feet. It does not imply a single evolutionary lineage. Examples include humans, bears, dogs and cats, rodents, bats, and various marsupials and monotremes. The term serves to emphasize contrast with the hoofed mammals rather than to denote a formal taxonomic category.