noun
definition
Any of several small, paenungulate herbivorous mammals of the order Hyracoidea, with a bulky frame and fang-like incisors, native to Africa and the Middle East.
Examples of hyraxes in a Sentence
The remaining and less typical subordinal groups - sometimes ranked as orders by themselves - include among living animals the Proboscidea, cr elephants, and the Hyracoidea, or hyraxes, and among extinct groups the Amblypoda, Ancylopoda, Barypoda, Condylarthra, Litopterna and Toxodontia.
These creatures have no proper English name, and are generally known as hyraxes, from the scientific term (Hyrax) by which they were for many years designated - a term which has unfortunately had to give place to the earlier Procavia.
That the group originated in Africa there can be no reasonable doubt; and it is remarkable that so early as the Upper Eocene the types in existence differed comparatively little in structure from the modern forms. In fact the hyraxes were then almost as distinct from other mammals as they are at the present day.
Recent discoveries have demonstrated the African origin of the elephants (Proboscidea) and hyraxes (Hyracoidea), the latter group being still indeed mainly African, and in past times also limited to Africa and the Mediterranean countries.
There were plenty of Rock Hyraxes and Nubian ibex.