Mesohippus was a browser that fed on tender twigs and fruit. It had significantly larger cerebral hemispheres, and had a small, shallow depression on its skull called a fossa, which in modern horses is quite detailed. Horses Have Four Secret Toes Hidden in Their Feet, Says Study - Inverse Lesser known than Hipparion, but perhaps more interesting, was Hippidion, one of the few prehistoric horses to have colonized South America (where it persisted until historical times). copy the articles word for word and claim them as your own work. [1][2] Like many fossil horses, Mesohippus was common in North America. Time period: Bartonian of the Eocene through to www.prehistoric-wildlife.com. It was fairly large, standing about 10 hands (101.6 cm, or 40 inches) high, and its skull was similar to that of the modern horse. Basically, prehistoric horses evolved to fill this evolutionary niche. Mesohippus - Prehistoric Wildlife Volcanic eruptions that caused large-scale climate change may also have been involved, together with more gradual changes to Earth's climate that happened over millions of years. Pliohippus arose in the middle Miocene, around 15 million years ago. horse may seem an uninteresting name for a prehistoric horse, but Mesohippus would be the faster horse. Domestication may have also led to more varieties of coat colors.[59]. was similar to another primitive horse named Anchitherium. The skull lacked the large, flexible muzzle of the modern horse, and the size and shape of the cranium indicate that the brain was far smaller and less complex than that of todays horse. Later, as Spanish missions were founded on the mainland, horses would eventually be lost or stolen, and proliferated into large herds of feral horses that became known as mustangs.[56]. During the remainder of the Eocene, the prime evolutionary changes were in dentition. Because the process of water invading the land and then receding happened over such a long period of time, climate changes took place during this time, too. [12] The most significant change was in the teeth, which began to adapt to its changing diet, as these early Equidae shifted from a mixed diet of fruits and foliage to one focused increasingly on browsing foods. Similar fossils have also been discovered in Europe, such as Propalaeotherium (which is not considered ancestral to the modern horse).[14]. Bob Strauss is a science writer and the author of several books, including "The Big Book of What, How and Why" and "A Field Guide to the Dinosaurs of North America.". Merychippus - Facts and Figures - ThoughtCo
