Evolution of the

Horse
Natural Selection
Natural Selection
 Chooses individuals who can escape
predators
 Adapt to drastic changes in the
environment
 Many types of prehistoric horse developed
only one pathway continued.
How can change occur?
 Genes – units of inheritance – building blocks for
living tissue.
 Chromosomes – long protein strands that carry
genes
 Mutation – sudden variation in protein formation
– section of chromosome information can be
lost, turned around or twisted
 Through evolution mutations occurred and
provided variation that gave some animals better
survival characteristics.
Dawn Horse
 Cenozoic era
 Eocene epoch – 60-45 million years
 Eohippus
 first
known ancestor of the horse
 Remains of 13 different types have been
found – North America and England
Eohippus
 Prehistoric skeleton 8-14 inches tall
 Arched back
 Round body
 Slender legs
 Weight bearing foot pads
4 toes on front foot
 3 toes on hind foot
 Small splint bones of nonfuntional toes
Eohippus
 Small size = need to avoid predators
 Speed and agility
 Leap through bushes
 Slender legs, gripping toes = rapid maneuverability
over rough uneven ground
 Teeth – soft forest leaves & plant shoots-
browser
Primitive Forest Horse
 Oligocene epoch – 38-17 million years
ago
 Regression of swamps - expansion of forests
and plains
 Mesohippus
 Approx. 2 feet tall
 Longer legs = increased speed
 Didn’t rely on dense vegetation for concealment

and protection
 Ate soft forest leaves
Mesohippus
 Three toes on each foot
 Middletoe larger
 Weight still evenly distributed between toes
 Skull – larger
 Wider, more lateral placement of the eyes
 Increased field of vision – binocular
 Monocular – separate images from each eye
Primitive Plains Horse
 Miocene Epoch – 16-11 million years ago
 Merychippus
 First known grazer – lived in herds
 Modified teeth that could grasp, crop and grind grasses
 Sharp incisors and grinding molars – continuous eruption
 Gap between incisors and molars
 Early canine teeth and wolf teeth – remnants of primitive
teeth
 Change in digestive system
 Small stomach - Small amounts of food at frequent intervals
 Cecum and Large intestine becoming more important
Merychippus
 Vision
 Focus eye by raising and lowering head
 Distance vision
 Reflexes
 Specialized limb anatomy
 Prevents overflexion of joints
 Stay apparatus – to allow animal to sleep standing
 Speed
 Short bursts of speed
 Increased leg length
 Increased running on central toe
 Protective hoof formation – acting as a shock absorber
Early Migration
 Pliocene epoch – 10 million years ago
 Dry climate and sparse vegetation
 Pliohippus
 Migration,isolation and environmental
pressures contributed to many Pliohippus
types.
 Possibly resembled Przewalski, Tarpan or Zebra
 Short, muscular neck and protective coloring
Pliohippus
 Height of donkey, stiff upright
mane
 Leg anatomy
 One toe on each foot – remnant
splint bones
 Highly specialized toenail – hoof
 Head size
 Anatomical proportions similar to
modern horse
 Eyes set wider apart
Pleistocene Epoch
 The Ice Age
 Pliohippustypes migrated through North and
South America, Africa, Europe and Asia
 Sudden extinction in N. & S. America – puzzle
 Survived on the Eurasian continent
Dinohippus
 Recently discovered fossil remains
 Its foot structure, skull, and teeth are
extremely similar to those of the modern
equine
 it could be who Equus descended from it
Ancestral Horse Types
 Geographic and climatic conditions
 Temperature and altitude extremes
 Moist, rocky coastland - forest horse/celtic pony
 Flat, treeless plains – steppes horse
 Barren flatlands – wild horse of Central Asia
 Scorching deserts – caspian pony
 Encouraged evolution of Pliohippus into the ass,
the zebra and four basic horse types.
Four basic ancestral horse types
 European Forest Horse
 Northwest Europe – Paleolithic Period
 1,000,000 B.C.
 Mountainous coastal region demanded endurance and sure-
footedness
 Small pony, 12.2h, water resistant coat
 Early horse gradually evolved into two types (before
domestication)
 Celtic Pony
 Coastal regions, little food – small, short legged animal
 Primitive Heavy Horse
 Thrived in lush forest, grew to massive proportions
 Short legs relative to size, large barrel and heavy coat
 Used to develop the European Great Horse of the Middle
Ages
Four basic ancestral horse types
 Northern Eurasia – Steppes Horse
 Level, treeless plains
 Small, stocky – coarser head than its European
counterpart
 Retained primitive black dorsal stripe, upright stiff
mane and no forelock
 Cold resistant coat
 Thick, shaggy winter coat to protect him from cold frosts in
Mongolian steppes
Equus caballus przewalski
 Mongolian wild horse
 Thought to be a direct descendant of this
Asiatic wild horse
Four basic ancestral horse types
 Wild horse of Central Asia
 Barren flattlands
 15h, largest of the primitive types
 Slender and swift – survived in arid conditions
 Long neck and head, small forehead and a Roman nose.
 Large-boned, with long legs and large ears and a long back.
 Slab-sided, sparse mane and tail and a low tail set
 Believed to be predecessor to Barbs and Andalusians
Potential descendant
 Akhal-Teke
 Central Asia/Southern Russia
 Turkmenistan – 2400 B.C.
 Known to be a combination of two breeds
Four basic ancestral horse types
 Caspian pony
 Developed stamina and heat-resistance to survive in
a desert environment.
 Most populous throughout Mesopotamia
 12h, fine bones, light legs, a high-set tail, and a silky
mane and tail.
 Small, concave head, large nostrils and a relatively
short neck.
 Most likely a forerunner of today’s Arabian

 Tarpan, primitive breed now extinct, believed to be

related to this horse
Equus ferus
 Tarpan – Eurasian wild horse
 Extinct1875 - Moscow
 Konik & Heck horse
Zebra
 One Pliohippus type to Africa - Plesihippus
 Three species of Zebra
 Equus grevyi
 Equus zebra – mountain zebra

 Equus burchelli
Equus grevyi
 Imperial zebra – largest
 Subgenus - dolichohippus
 More ass-like – 46 chromosomes
Equus zebra
 Mountain zebra – smallest
 subgenus hippotigris
 2 subspecies – cape, hartman
 32 chromosomes
Equus burchelli
 Plains zebra
 subgenus hippotigris
 44 chromosomes
Equus Quagga
 Extinct subspecies of plains zebra
 Last wild shot 1870’s
 Last living died 1883 – Amsterdam zoo
 Other distant relatives to Pliohippus –
Neohipparion descendants
 Equus hemionus –
 Onager – Asian wild ass
Other distant relatives to Pliohippus
–Neohipparion descendants
 Equus hemionus –
 Kulan - Mongolian wild ass
Other distant relatives to Pliohippus
–Neohipparion descendants
 Equus kiang
 Kiang – Tibetan wild ass
 India, Kashmir
Other distant relatives to Pliohippus
–Neohipparion descendants
 Equus asinus africanus
 African wild ass
Other distant relatives to Pliohippus
–Neohipparion descendants
 Equus asinus
 ass– donkey – burro
 Domesticated ass – many varieties