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MONTHLY SPOTLIGHT The First Horses - Timeline

Hyracotherium

NAME Hyracotherium

SIZE 10 to 17 inches

DATE 55 to 45 million years ago

Mesohippus

Derived from the Greek word Meso 'half' and Hippus 'horse'. This early ancestor differed from the Hyracotherium as it developed its middle toe, it was better suited to running faster, was larger and its teeth were more evolved. It has developed as a result of climate change which resulted in less boggy ground and more grazing. This genus lived about 37 - 32 million years ago.

Merychippus

Merychippus evolved in North America and adapted to the hard grasses of the plains region by developing a more complex chewing surface with teeth covered in cement. This was the beginning of the grazing horse of today. Merychippus had now increased in size to about 35 inches. Its side toes continued to diminish and no longer reached the ground. The main toe thickened and hardened for swift travel on the dry ground and bore most of the animals weight. Merychippus lived from 17 - 11 million years ago.

Pliohippus

Fossils of Pliohippus are found at many late Miocene localities in Colorado, the Great Plains of the US (Nebraska and the Dakotas) and Canada. In the late Miocene Epoch, one branch of horses crossed into Asia and quickly multiplied and spread to Europe. Meanwhile in North America, the horse developed into the final model. The pliohippus was the first true monodactyl (one-toed animal) of evolutionary history. Pliohippus had increasing need for speed to outrun its enemies, so the hoof evolved from the continued over-development of its middle toe. Its denture and extremities were the nearest approach to our present-day horses. This horse now spread into South America, as well as Asia, Europe, and Africa. In the last two million years, Pleistocene and present, Equus emerged as the large, magnificent creature we admire today. Finally about 8,000 years ago, Equus became extinct in the New World and was not to return until the Spanish brought horses to the Western Hemisphere in the 1,400's. For perhaps half a million years - far into the dark reaches of prehistory - man's only contact with the horse was as a hunter in search of food. Only in the relatively recent past (between 4,000 and 3,000 B.C.) did man domesticate the horse, and yet it was still used for food. This domestication began on the steppes north of the Black Sea (where there were wild horses at the time) at a period when oxen were already being yoked in draft in Mesopotamia. Species in this genus lived from 12-6 million years ago.

The Cave Horses Resemble Today's Przewalski Horse

Many cave paintings of horses resemble the tough little Przewalski horses of today, with their large strong heads and erect manes. It is believed that the Przewalski horses are a direct or collateral ancestor of many living equine breeds. The breed was discovered in 1879 in Mongolia. It is now threatened with extinction and measures have been taken to establish a refuge for the remaining horses in the wild. A few of them are held in captivity in zoos around the world.

The Przewalski Horse

The oldest horse still in existence is the Przewalski horse (Equus Przewalski). Ironically, this horse was discovered only in the last century. In 1879, the Russian Captain, Nikolai Mikailovich Przewalski sighted the horse as he traveled through the remote valleys of Mongolia. The Przewalski horse typically stands 12 to 14 hands high and has a dun (yellowish) coloring. It has a light colored muzzle, a short, upstanding mane, a dark streak along its back, as well as dark legs. In its native Mongolia it feeds on tamarisk, feather grass, and the white roots of rhubarb. The Przewalski horse was once threatened with extinction. The former Soviet Union had established a refuge for the horse in the late 1970s to insure both it's continued existence and its freedom. During the 1990s, some Przewalskis were returned to preserves in their native Mongolia.