Remove ads
Orohippus (from the Greek ὄρος óros, 'mountain' and ἵππος híppos, 'horse'[3]) is an extinct equid that lived in the Eocene (about 50 million years ago).
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2007) |
| Orohippus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Skeleton of Orohippus pumillus at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Equidae |
| Genus: | †Orohippus Marsh, 1872 |
| Type species | |
| †Orohippus pumillus | |
| Species[2] | |
| |
It is believed to have evolved from equids such as Eohippus, as the earliest evidence for Orohippus appears about 2 million years after the first appearance of Eohippus. The anatomical differences between the two are slight: they were the same size, but Orohippus had a slimmer body, a more elongated head, slimmer forelimbs and longer hind legs, all of which are characteristics of a good jumper. Its teeth were brachydont in height, but the development of flattened surfaces and shearing lophs on their molars suggests they were more a browser than a frugivore.[4] The outer toes of Eohippus are no longer present in Orohippus, hence on each forelimb there were four fingers (toes) and on each hind leg three toes.
Species of Orohippus has also been referred to Protorohippus.
Remove ads
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
Remove ads