In Depth Whereas its relative Hipparion spread across North America, Eurasia and Africa, Neohipparion is so far only known from North America, from Southern Canada to across most of the United States and Mexico. Neohipparion appeared on the North American landscape at a time when grassy plains were replacing forests as the dominant habitats, a … Read more
In Depth As a primitive Eocene era horse Orohippus is thought to have primarily been a browser, which means it ate leaves of plants rather than grazing grass. However the teeth are also more suited for grinding rather than slicing which suggests a specialisation in eating tougher kinds of vegetation. Orohippus is thought to … Read more
In Depth ‘Middle horse’ may seem an uninteresting name for a prehistoric horse, but Mesohippus is actually one of the most important. The middle horse name is actually a reference to the position of Mesohippus in relation to earlier forms like Hyracotherium and larger and later forms like we know today. Aside from having longer … Read more
In Depth Merychippus is one of the best known occurrences of the appearance of the modern horse form that is much better adapted to running. Whereas the earlier forms such as Hyracotherium and Mesohippus had more than one weight bearing toe, Merychippus supported its body weight with feet that ended with a single well adapted … Read more
In Depth The Oligocene and Miocene periods were times of change for the world’s ecosystems, particularly those of the northern hemisphere. Long covered by temperate and in places tropical forests, these were now steadily being replaced by grassy plains. Parahippus is a horse that shows a shift towards coping with these changing environments. Primitive horse … Read more
In Depth Originally classed as a species of Pliohippus, Dinohippus seems to have been one of the most common horses in prehistoric North America. Dinohippus is considered to have been very close to the modern horse genus Equus, and like modern horses, Dinohippus lacked a dished face. Dinohippus was once considered to have been an … Read more
In Depth Hipparion was one of the earlier grazing horses that was similar to Merychippus in form. Like other ‘advanced’ horses of the Miocene, Hipparion supported its body weight upon a single toe that ended with a hoof. Other toes were also still present upon either side of this toe, but they had become so … Read more
In Depth In the on-going evolution of horses Pliohippus represents the next stage after forms like Merychippus. The most noted feature of Pliohippus is that it has even more developed hoof feet supported by the middle toe, with the two side toes being reduced so much that in life they would have been barely visible … Read more
In Depth Astrohippus is one of many of the horse genera that were roaming around North America during the Miocene period, but it is one of the few to be considered a close relative of the Equus genus which is where modern horses belong, though the tooth structure of Astrohippus strongly suggests that Astrohippus is … Read more
In Depth Eohippus is a classic prehistoric mammal, dubbed as one of the earliest and smallest horses ever to live. There has in the past been some taxonomic confusion over the validity of the genus, and at one time Eohippus was actually regarded as belonging to another genus named Hyracotherium. Later thought has cast doubt … Read more