The Horse Evolution

The Horse Evolution


The horse appeared 60-70 million years ago. Its ancestor Hyracotherium in Europe and Eohipus in America lived in subtropical swamps. It was about 30-40 cm tall, with a short neck, a stripped fur, humped and had a small head. Finally the horse family formed 2-2.5 million years ago. A lot of reasons influenced the horse evolution.
The climate was changing. Instead of jungle, vast steppe appeared. Searching for food, running long distances escaping from enemies a horse had to be quick and tough. So they needed long limbs and hooves instead of fingers.
North America is horse’s natural habitat. About 50 million years ago there was a dry land in the place where present strait of Bering is. The ancestors of American horses migrated to Asia, later Europe and Africa along this “bridge”. 30 million years ago horses disappeared from America. Even archeologists cannot find their tracks. One of the suppositions is that the sting of some fly was poisonous to horses. Only in the 16th century horses were brought to America by conquistadors.
All the breeds of horses sprang from two types: European wild tarpan horse and Asian Przevalski wild horse.

Tarpan
Tarpan is a grey horse with a black stripe along its back, a big head, a white forehead, a short fat neck, black upright mane, skinny legs and about 136 cm tall. It is wild. Two subspecies are known: forest and steppe. Forest tarpan existed in Lithuania in the 17th century. They disappeared at the turn of the 18-19th centuries. Steppe tarpan existed the longest: the last was shot in 1879 in former Ukrainian territory on the Crimean peninsula not far from Askania Nova.

Przevalski Horse
Przevalski horse is light bay brown, with black short mane and tail, small ears and long legs. Russian geographer and traveller N.Przevalski described this breed in 1879. He brought a horse fur and a skull from one expedition.
These horses are very rare nowadays. Only 200 pureblooded Przevalski horses are left in the world. You can meet them living in freedom in herds of 5-20 only in the Middle Asia. It is an endangered breed, which is in the Red Book. If you go to Riga Zoo in Latvia you will be able to see Przevalski horse alive there.

Materials:
E. Danilevicius. “Oh Stallion, Stallion” - V., 1986