What are they made of? Is there a rough equivalent body part for humans? Are there differences between hooves on different animals such as cows and horses? Why can wild animals get by without hoof maintenance while farm animals do?
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>What are they made of? Is there a rough equivalent body part for humans?
Your nails! They’re made of Keratin, exactly the same. The only difference is that hooved animals evolved to walk on their nails, so they thickened to act as feet.
>Why can wild animals get by without hoof maintenance while farm animals do?
It’s generally due to natural wear-n’-tear.
In nature, they’re running on dirt. That causes a very specific amount of damage. In nature, hooves wear away at about the same rate as they grows back
Domestic animals tend to be dealing with different things tho. If they’re not actively running, they need their hooves trimmed because they’re not getting worn down.
If they’re a work animal tho, or they’re walking on harder surfaces, that’s gonna wear down their hooves faster than normal; which is one of the reasons why we give horses horseshoes.
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