Even-Toed Ungulates: Artiodactyla

For as long as people have inhabited the earth, artiodactyls have been hunted for their meat and skins. Still today they are valued as a source of animal protein. Domestic livestock such as cattle, pigs, goats, and sheep are artiodactyls. Historians believe sheep and goats were the first artiodactyls species to be domesticated, around nine thousand years ago. Whether domesticated or wild, humans still rely on artiodactyls for meat, bones, horns, fertilizer, milk, and other byproducts.