A cloven hoof, cleft hoof, divided hoof, or split hoof is a hoof split into two toes. Members of the mammalian order Artiodactyla that possess this type of hoof include cattle, deer, pigs, antelopes, gazelles, goats, and sheep.
Cloven hooves of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)
The hoof is the tip of a toe of an ungulate mammal, which is covered and strengthened with a thick and horny keratin covering. Artiodactyls are even-toed ungulates, species whose feet have an even number of digits; the ruminants with two digits are the most numerous, e.g. giraffe, deer, bison, cattle, goat, and sheep. The feet of perissodactyl mammals have an odd number of toes, e.g. the horse, the rhinoceros, and the tapir. Although hooves are limb structures primarily found in placental mammals, hadrosaurs such as Edmontosaurus possessed hoofed forelimbs. The marsupial Chaeropus also had hooves.
The feet of the roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) have cloven hooves with prominent dewclaws.
Sagittal section of a wild horse hoof. Pink: soft tissues; light gray: bone; cyan: tendons; red: corium; yellow: digital cushion; dark gray: frog; orange: sole; brown: walls
An oxshoe is being nailed on the hooves of a bull used for draft at Chinawal, India, to prevent them from wearing out too much.
Trimming the hoof of a cow with an angle grinder
