Page 61 - Prehistoric Animals

Hyra-Co-Thear-Eum

Hyracotherium

Hyracotherium (Hyrax-like beast) is
an extinct genus. It lived in the Eocene era between 60
and 45 million years ago.

Richard Owen created and named it in 1841 af-
ter he discovered a small animal’s fossilized scull in
England. He named it Hyracotherium leporinum. It’s
believed the animal would have been about two feet in
length, 14-inches in height and could have weighed
around 50 pounds. Owen first described the scull as
being Fox-like. However, H. leporinum, due to a find
by Othniel C. Marsh in New México, was soon classi-
fied as an Eohippus. (Earliest horse; extinct primitive
dog-sized and four-toed animal).

The genus Eohippus was named in 1876 by Oth-
niel C. Marsh who found a full skeleton of an animal
in New Mexico. He named the genus Eohippus (dawn
horse) and typename as angustidens. It is the only
species of the genus Eohippus. It was 10 to 20 inches
tall and had four toes on its front legs and three toes
on its hind legs. It had a long head with jaws housing
many low crowned teeth. It was a browsing herbivore
and would have eaten grass, leaves and possibly, fruit.

After further studies Owens and Marsh’s fossils
were found to be very similar and under the rule ‘First
named has priority’, Eohippus angustidens was moved
to the genus Hyracotherium, becoming a junior syno-
nym of that genus. After several other species were
found and added to Hyracotherium, some suggested
Hyracotherium may have been an early relative of ani-
mals like rhinos and tapirs. Today these suggestions
have been totally dismissed.

Although, Hyracotherium is the only officially
recognised genus of the early ancestors of the horse
many commentators still prioritise the genus Eohip-
pus and its stats when they comment on the ancestry
of the horse