Editing Ungulate (section)

====Teeth====
Most ungulates have developed reduced [[canine teeth]] and specialized [[molar (tooth)|molars]], including bunodont (low, rounded cusps) and [[hypsodont]] (high crowned) teeth. The development of hypsodonty has been of particular interest as this adaptation was strongly associated with the spread of grasslands during the [[Miocene]] about 25&nbsp;million years ago. As forest biomes declined, grasslands spread, opening new [[Ecological niche|niches]] for mammals. Many ungulates switched from browsing diets to grazing diets, and possibly driven by abrasive silica in grass, hypsodonty became common. However, recent evidence ties the evolution of hypsodonty to open, gritty habitats and not the grass itself. This is termed the [[Grit, not grass hypothesis]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Jardine | first1 = Phillip E. | last2 = Janis | first2 = Christine M. | last3 = Sahney | first3 = Sarda | last4 = Benton | first4 = Michael J. | year = 2012 | title = Grit not grass: Concordant patterns of early origin of hypsodonty in Great Plains ungulates and Glires | doi = 10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.09.001 | journal = Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology | volume = 365–366 | pages = 1–10 | bibcode = 2012PPP...365....1J }}</ref>

Some ungulates completely lack upper incisors and instead have a [[dental pad]] to assist in browsing.<ref name="2001Rouge">{{cite web | title = Dental Anatomy of Ruminants | last = Rouge | first = Melissa | year = 2001 | publisher = Colorado State University | url = http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/pregastric/cowpage.html | access-date = 5 May 2010 | archive-date = 28 September 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110928131653/http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/pregastric/cowpage.html | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name="WonderQuest">{{cite web | publisher = WonderQuest | title = Toothless cud chewers, To see ourselves as others see us... | url = http://www.wonderquest.com/cows-teeth-mirrors.htm | access-date = 5 May 2010}}</ref> It can be found in camels, ruminants, and some toothed whales; modern baleen whales were remarkable in that they have [[baleen]] instead to filter out the krill from the water. On the other spectrum teeth have been evolved as weapons or sexual display seen in pigs and peccaries, some species of deer, musk deer, hippopotamuses, beaked whales and the Narwhal, with its long canine tooth.<ref name="Nweeia et al.">{{cite journal|last1=Nweeia|first1=Martin T.|title=Vestigial tooth anatomy and tusk nomenclature for ''Monodon monoceros''|journal=The Anatomical Record|year=2012|doi=10.1002/ar.22449|pmid=22467529|volume=295|issue=6|pages=1006–16|first2=Frederick C.|last2=Nweeia|first3=Peter V.|last3=Hauschka|first4=Ethan|last4=Tyler|first5=James G.|last5=Mead|first6=Charles W.|last6=Potter|first7=David P.|last7=Angnatsiak|first8=Pierre R.|last8=Richard|first9=Jack R.|last9=Orr|first10=Sandie R.|last10=Black|s2cid=22907605|display-authors=etal|doi-access=free}}</ref>