Hyracotherium is an extinct genus of perissodactyl ungulates dating back to the early Eocene period. Measuring roughly one meter long, it was a herbivore which would presumably have lived in small herds in the forests of England.
Description[]
Hyracotherium is an extinct genus of noticeably and recognizably small perissodactyl ungulates that was found in the London Clay formation. The entirety of this animal barely measured about 60 cm in length.
This small, dog-sized animal was once considered to be the earliest known member of Equidae before the type species, H. leporinum, was reclassified as a palaeotheriid, a perissodactyl family basal to both horses and brontotheres. The remaining species are now thought to belong to different genera, such as Eohippus, which had previously been formally synonymised with Hyracotherium. Hyracotherium is believed to have been a browsing herbivore that ate primarily soft leaves as well as some fruits and nuts and plant shoots
References[]
- https://www.britannica.com/animal/dawn-horse
- https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/fossil-horses/gallery/hyracotherium/
- https://www.britannica.com/animal/horse/Evolution-of-the-horse
- https://nature.ca/notebooks/english/dahorse.htm
