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What did the horse come from?

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Anonymous

17y ago
Updated: 8/16/2019

The first known ancestor of the horse was a creature called Eohippus (greek for Dawn Horse). Its scientific name is hyracotherium. This creature had four toes on each front foot and five on the hind foot, a short tufted tail, and was about the size of a domestic cat. This animal evolved into the modern horse. A number of intermediates are known, with gradually fewer toes. First the fourth toe on the forefoot, and the first and fifth on the hindfoot, shrink. Then the two outer toes on each foot shrink until the horse stands on the tip of a single toe as the modern horse (Equus caballus) does. One of the intermediates was Merychippus, which stood on one toe but had two others present.

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Wiki User

17y ago

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