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A hyrax is any of about 11 species of fairly small, thickset, herbivorous mammals in the order Hyracoidea. They are short-legged, rotund creatures with a mere stump for a tail; well-furred and about the size of a domestic cat. Most are between 30 and about 70 cm long and weigh between 2 and 5 kg. From a distance and with a little imagination, a hyrax could be mistaken for a very well-fed rabbit—indeed, early Phoenician navigators mistook the rabbits of the Iberian Peninsula for hyraxes: the word Spain originally came from an ancient term meaning "land of the hyraxes".

1 Prehistoric Hyraxes

All modern hyraxes are members of the family Procaviidae (the only family in the Hyracoidea), and they are found only in Africa and the Middle East. In the past, however, hyraxes were widespread and common. The order first appears in the fossil record over 40 million years ago, and for many millions of years hyraxes played a prominent role as the primary terrestrial herbivore in Africa, just as odd-toed ungulates did in North America. There were many different species, the largest of them about the weight of a small horse.

During the MioceneThe Miocene Epoch is a period of time that extends from about 5 million to 24 million years before the present. As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the start and end are well identified, but the exact dates of the start and end, however, competition from the newly-developed bovidBovinae Cephalophinae Hippotraginae Antilopinae Caprinae A bovid is any of almost 140 species of cloven-hoofed mammals belonging to the family Bovidae . The family is widespread, being native to all continents except Australia and Antarctica, and diverse:s—very efficient grazers and browsers—pushed the hyraxes out of the prime territory and into marginal niches. Nevertheless, the order remained widespread, diverse and successful as late as the end of the PlioceneThe Pliocene epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from about 5 million to 1. 6 million years before present. The Pliocene follows the Miocene epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene epoch. The Pliocene is the fifth and last epoch of (about 2 million years ago) with representatives throughout most of Africa, EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se and AsiaThe continent of Asia is defined by subtracting Europe and Africa from the great land mass of Africa-Eurasia. The boundaries are vague, especially between Asia and Europe: Asia and Africa meet somewhere near the Suez Canal. The boundary between Asia and E.

The large size of prehistoric hyraxes can help us to appreciate the remarkable fact that modern hyraxes may be the closest living relatives of the elephantThis page is about the animal, see elephant (disambiguation) for more meanings. Loxodonta Loxodonta cyclotis Loxodonta africana Elephas Elephas maximus Proboscidea is an order including only one family, Elephantidae or the elephants with 3 species: the Sa. The descendants of the giant hyracoids evolved in different ways. Some became smaller, and gave rise to the modern hyrax family. Others appear to have taken to the water (perhaps like the modern capybaraThe capybara Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris is the largest of living rodents (the now extinct rodent Phoberomys pattersoni was significantly bigger. They are native to most of the tropical and temperate parts of South America east of the Andes, always near wat), and ultimately gave rise to the elephant family, and perhaps also the Sirenians (dugongs and manatees). Strange though this theory may seem, DNA evidence supports it, and the small modern hyraxes share numerous features with elephants, such as toenails, sensitive pads on their feet, small tusks, and the shape of some of their bones.