After dinosaurs went extinct about 65 million years ago, mammals began to evolve and diversify into new niches. In order to understand and disentangle this convoluted history of mammals, paleontologists narrowed the focus of their studies to horse because horse evolution occurred approximately at around 55 million years ago, and their fossil record is highly rich in details. In the next several paragraphs, we will discuss the morphological changes in horse from the Eocene epoch to the Holocene epoch and determine how these changes in characteristics may have a paralleled relation to the species’ environment.
Eocene epoch lasted from 55 to 45 million years ago. The horse genus at that time was Hyracotherium, relatively small in size with a
Eocene epoch lasted from 55 to 45 million years ago. The horse genus at that time was Hyracotherium, relatively small in size with a