Roll# 2k20/zoo/8

Name Ammarah Mushtaque

D/o Mushtaque Ahmed

Developmental Biology
Subject

Submit to Dr.Sanjoda
Department Zoology

Evolution of the Horse

Imagine a world in which horses of all colors, shapes, and sizes roamed the world, some barely
larger than a small dog. That world no longer exists--but once it was real. Today's horses
represent just one tiny twig on an immense family tree that spans millions of years. All the other
branches of the horse family, known as Equidae, are now extinct. The earliest known horses
evolved 55 million years ago and for much of this time, multiple horse species lived at the same
time, often side by side, as seen in this diorama.

Ancient Horses

Some 10 million years ago, up to a dozen species of horses roamed the Great Plains of North
America. These relatives of the modern horse came in many shapes and sizes. Some lived in the
forest, while others preferred open grassland.

Here, two large Dinohippus horses can be seen grazing on grass, much like horses today. But
unlike modern horses, a three-toed Hypohippus tiptoes through the forest, nibbling on leaves. A
small, three-toed Nannippus, shown here eating shrubs, ate both grass and leaves.

In the background are several other large mammals alive at that time, including Procamelus, a
camel relative; a herd of Dinohippus horses; Gomphotherium, a distant relative of true elephants;
and Teleoceras, a hornless rhinoceros.

A Brief History of Horses

By 55 million years ago, the first members of the horse family, the dog-
sized Hyracotherium, were scampering through the forests that covered North America. For
more than half their history, most horses remained small, forest browsers. But changing climate
conditions allowed grasslands to expand, and about 20 million years ago, many new species
rapidly evolved. Some--but not all--became larger and had the familiar hooves and grazing diets
that we associate with horses today. Only these species survived to the present, but in the past,
small and large species lived side by side.

Changing Sizes

Horses were once much smaller than they are today. But there was not a steady increase in size
over time. Little Nannippus, shown in the diorama at full adult size, was actually smaller than its
predecessors.

 Mesohippus 45 kg
 Merychippus 100 kg
 Nannippus 75 kg
 Equus 500 kg

Dinohippus

 Single hoof
 Ate grass
  11 to 4 million years ago

The Dinohippus shown grazing on the left is a close relative of horses today. Like modern-
day Equus, Dinohippus had single-toed hooves and ate mostly grass. The other extinct species
shown in the diorama had three toes and never developed single hooves

The Evolution of the Horse's Foot

The question here is not "can we find a change from one species to another ". This page takes the
discussion up one level, and looks for fossil connections between dozens or hundreds of species.
Obviously, the time spans are longer. We might be talking about 10 million years instead of one
million: or perhaps 30 million instead of 3 million.

The talk. Origins Transitional Fossils FAQ lists a bunch of groupings - the bears, for instance.
But there is a horse FAQ because we have such a huge collection of horse fossils, and because
the pieces of the puzzle fit together so well.

Fifty five million years ago, there was an animal the size of a small dog,
called Hyracotherium (sometimes incorrectly called Eohippus). Its front feet had four toes, and
its back feet had three. Modern horse feet have a single hoof. So, are there transitional fossils that
connect the two?

The Horse Series

That suggests that the ancestors of the modern horse didn't have a hoof. So, do modern horses
suggest any such ancestry?
 Horse Growth
That seems pretty clear. So, why have so many scientists been quoted as saying that something
was wrong with the horse series?
They were actually complaining that the simple pictures are far too simple. It has in the past been
shown as a "ladder of progress", a uniform and sure path from a starting point to an ending point.
But in fact the horse family tree is enormous, and no one path through the tree is representative
of all that went on. For example,
"Increase in size, for instance, did not occur at all during the first third of the whole history of the
family. Then it occurred quite irregularly, at different rates and to different degrees in a number
of different lines of descent. Even after a trend toward larger size had started it was reversed in
several groups of horses which became smaller instead of larger."

In fact, horse history was quite eventful, with four major migrations, and some mass extinctions.
Also, the rate of evolution (measured in new species per million years) varied considerably. I
don't have pictures of the transitional fossils - not because we don't have any, but because they
are so numerous, and no one transition is the important one.

"All the morphological changes in the history of the Equidae can be accounted for by the neo-
Darwinian theory of microevolution: genetic variation, natural selection, genetic drift, and
speciation."

The Horse Family Tree

This diagram (from the horse FAQ) just shows genus names. In 1940, this diagram would have
showed only 15 genera, representing only 200 species. But we just keep finding horse fossils.
There are entire books about them.
The numbers down the left hand side are the dates. The present is at the top, and 55 million years
ago is at the bottom.

2My Old & New World Equus

\ | /
\ | /
4My Hippidion Equus
Stylohipparion
| | Neohipparion Hipparion
Cormohipparion
| | Astrohippus | | |
| | Pliohippus ---------------------------
12My Dinohippus Calippus \ | /
| | Pseudhipparion \ | /
| | | |
------------------------------------------- Sinohippus
15My \ | / |
\ | / Megahippus |
17My Merychippus | |
| Anchitherium Hypohippus
| | |
23My Parahippus Anchitherium
Archeohippus
| | |
(Kalobatippus?)-----------------------------------------
25My \ | /
\ | /
|
35My |
Miohippus Mesohippus
| |
40My Mesohippus
|
|
|
45My Paleotherium |
| Epihippus
| |
Propalaeotherium | Haplohippus
| | |
50My Pachynolophus | Orohippus
| | |
| | |
------------------------------
\ | /
\ | /
55My Hyracotherium
Nutrition
The horse’s natural food is grass. For stabled horses, the diet generally consists of hay and grain.
The animal should not be fed immediately before or after work, to avoid digestive problems.
Fresh water is important, especially when the horse is shedding its winter coat, but the animal
should never be watered when it is overheated after working. Oats provide the greatest
nutritional value and are given especially to foals. Older horses, whose teeth are worn down, or
those with digestive troubles, can be provided with crushed oats. Chaff (minced straw) can be
added to the oat ration of animals that eat greedily or do not chew the grain properly.
Crushed barley is sometimes substituted in part for oats. Hay provides the bulk of the horse’s
ration and may be of varying composition according to locale. Mash is bran mixed with water
and with various invigorating additions or medications. It may be given to horses with digestive
troubles or deficient eating habits. Corn (maize) is used as a fattening cereal, but it makes the
horse sweat easily. Salt is needed by the horse at all times and especially when
shedding. Bread, carrots, and sugar are tidbits often used by the rider or trainer to reward an
animal. In times of poverty, horses have adapted to all sorts of food—potatoes, beans, green
leaves, and in Iceland even fish—but such foods are not generally taken if other fare is available.
A number of commercial feed mixes are available to modern breeders and owners; these mixes
contain minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients and are designed to provide a balanced diet when
supplemented with hay.

Behavior

The horse’s nervous system is highly developed and gives proof to varying degrees of the
essential faculties that are the basis of intelligence: instinct, memory, and judgment. Foals, which
stand on their feet a short while after birth and are able to follow their mothers within a few
hours, even at this early stage in life exhibit the traits generally ascribed to horses. They have a
tendency to flee danger. They express fear sometimes by showing panic and sometimes by
immobility. Horses rarely attack and do so either when flight is impossible or when driven to
assault a person who has treated them brutally.

Habit governs a large number of their reactions. Instinct, together with a fine sense of smell and
hearing, enables them to sense water, fire, even distant danger. An extremely well-developed
sense of direction permits the horse to find its way back to its stables even at night or after a
prolonged absence. The visual memory of the horse prompts it to shy repeatedly from an object
or place where it had earlier experienced fear. The animal’s auditory memory, which enabled
ancient army horses or hunters to follow the sounds of the bugles, is used in training. When
teaching, the instructor always uses the same words and the same tone of voice for a given
desired reaction. Intelligent horses soon attach certain movements desired by their trainers to
particular sounds and even try to anticipate their rider’s wishes.
While instinct is an unconscious reaction more or less present in all individuals of the same
species, the degree of its expression varies according to the individual and its development. Most
horses can sense a rider’s uncertainty, nervousness, or fear and are thereby encouraged to
disregard or even deliberately disobey the rider.
Cunning animals have been known to employ their intelligence and physical skill to a
determined end, such as opening the latch of a stall or the lid of a chest of oats.

Reproduction and development

The onset of adult sex characteristics generally begins at the age of 16 to 18 months. The horse is
considered mature, depending on the breed, at approximately three years and adult at five. Fecundity
varies according to the breed and may last beyond age 20 with Thoroughbreds and to 12 or 15 with other
horses. The gestation period is 11 months; 280 days is the minimum in which the foal can be born with
expectation to live. As a rule, a mare produces one foal per mating, twins occasionally, and triplets rarely.
The foal is weaned at six months.
The useful life of a horse varies according to the amount of work it is required to do and the maintenance
furnished by its owner. A horse that is trained carefully and slowly and is given the necessary time for
development may be expected to serve to an older age than a horse that is rushed in its training.
Racehorses that enter into races at the age of two rarely remain on the turf beyond eight. Well-
kept riding horses, on the contrary, may be used more than 20 years.
The life span of a horse is calculated at six to seven times the time necessary for its physical and mental
development—that is, 30 to 35 years at the utmost, the rule being about 20 to 25 years. Ponies generally
live longer than larger horses. There are a number of examples of horses that have passed the usual limit
of age. The veterinary university of Vienna conserves the skeleton of a Thoroughbred mare of 44 years of
age. There have been reports made of horses living to their early 60s in age.

Diseases and parasites

Horses are subjected to a number of contagious diseases, such
as influenza, strangles, glanders, equine encephalomyelitis, and equine infectious
anemia (swamp fever). Their skin is affected by parasites, including certain mites, ticks, and lice.
Those with sensitive skin are especially subject to eczemas and abscesses, which may result from
neglect or contamination. Sores caused by injuries to the skin from ill-fitting or unclean saddles
and bridles are common ailments. The horse’s digestive tract is particularly sensitive to spoiled
feed, which causes acute or chronic indigestion, especially in hot weather. Worms can develop in
the intestine and include the larvae of the botfly, pinworms, tapeworms, and roundworms
(ascarids). Overwork and neglect may predispose the horse to pneumonia and rheumatism. The
ailment known as roaring is an infection of the larynx that makes the horse inhale noisily; a
milder form causes the horse to whistle. Chronic asthma, or “broken wind,” is an ailment that is
all but incurable. A horse’s legs and feet are sensitive to blows, sprains, and overwork, especially
if the horse is young or is worked on hard surfaces. Lameness may be caused by bony growths,
such as splints, spavins, and ringbones, by soft-tissue enlargements, known as windgalls,
thoroughpins, and shoe boils, and by injury to the hooves, including sand crack, split hoof, tread
thrush, and acute or chronic laminitis.
Reference
https://www.britannica.com/animal/horse/Behaviour

https://chem.tufts.edu/science/evolution/HorseEvolution.htm