Hyracoidea

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Hyracoidea is a taxonomic order of mammals. It includes the living hyraxes, placed within the family Procaviidae, and several extinct taxa. All modern hyraxes are members of the family Procaviidae (the only living family within Hyracoidea) and are found only in Africa and the Middle East. In the past, however, hyraxes were more diverse and widespread. At one site in Egypt, the order first appears in the fossil record in the form of Dimaitherium, 37 million years ago, but much older fossils exist elsewhere. For many millions of years, hyraxes, proboscideans, and other afrotherian mammals were the primary terrestrial herbivores in Africa, just as odd-toed ungulates were in North America. Through the middle to late Eocene, many different species existed. The smallest of these were the size of a mouse but others were much larger than any extant relatives. Titanohyrax could reach 600 kg (1,300 lb) or even as much as over 1,300 kg (2,900 lb). Megalohyrax from the upper Eocene-lower Oligocene...

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