What scientific Order includes the zebra alongside rhinos and tapirs?
Answer
Perissodactyla
Zebras belong to the taxonomic order Perissodactyla. This classification groups them with other odd-toed ungulates. The significance of this placement is that it establishes the deep evolutionary split between the ancestors of the zebra and those leading to modern rhinos or tapirs, all of whom share this fundamental odd-toed structure. The defining characteristic of members in this order is having an asymmetrical foot structure where the weight is primarily borne on three toes, or in the case of the surviving members like the zebra, a single functional toe, which differentiates them from even-toed ungulates.
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