8 Animals With Surprisingly Common Ancestry  (5 of 5)

8. Horses and Rhinoceroses

Imagine how awesome it would be if cowboys rode on the backs of rhinos instead of horses? Although we will all have to come to terms with the fact that this will never be a thing, here is some consolation: both animals belong to the order Perissodactyla, characterized by hooves with an odd number of toes, a specialized digestive system adapted to processing plant matter, and a unique ankle joint that fuses several bones together for increased stability. Over time, perissodactyls diversified into various lineages, with horses retaining a single toe on each foot and rhinoceroses retaining three toes. Despite their divergent adaptations, horses and rhinoceroses share many skeletal and physiological features, which proves their common ancestry.