EVOLUTION OF HORSES

Equine evolution

The theory and belief of Charles Darwin is now more and more accepted. The very fact that plant and animals had and still do adapt to the changing of their environment makes it convincing. The theory is that at first a simple form of life existed and it changed over millions of years into various form of animals and plants. This means that all forms of life on earth have one single ancestor. The following illustration proves that there is truth in it

HYRACOTHERIUM SKELETON

The evolution of the horse started with hyracotherium. It lived 70-60 million years ago. It was about the size of a fox, at two feet (60cm) in length. It stood 8-14 inches (20cm) high at the shoulder and weighed 50 pounds. It had four hoofed toes on each front foot and three hoofed toes on each hind foot. The toes were padded. The hyracotherium had a short face with eye sockets in the middle and a short diastema (space between front teeth and cheek teeth). The skull was long, and it had 44 long teeth. It had slender long legs which were useful for running, and it usually inhabited swampy, wooded areas.

MESOHIPPUS SKELETON

The next creature in the evolution of the horse was the mesohippus, which lived 35-25 million years ago. It was a little larger than hyracotherium and had longer legs. It was discovered that it had one toe less, according to the skeleton. The face was longer and larger, and the eyes were rounder and wider apart. It developed another tooth for grinding, and the teeth had a single gap behind the front teeth where the bit now rests in the modern horse. The brain was more or less the same size of a modern horse. It seemed to be better equipped for grazing on dry grasslands.

MERRYCHIPPUS SKELETON

The merrychippus lived 25-10 million years ago, in herds. It was about one meter tall. The muzzle was longer and the jaw deeper. The eyes were wider and the larger brain was capable of more complex thought. It was the first horse which had the distinct head of today's horse. The foot was formed with ligaments and hooves. It was the size of a typical pony of modern times.

PLIOHIPPUS SKELETON

The last in the chain of evolution was the piohippus, and it lived 7-2 million years ago. The single hooves enabled it to be very fast on is feet. It was a strong horse.

EQUUS

The equus lived less than two million years ago. It looked like the native British pony breed and was the forerunner of today's modern horses