Merychippus: The Evolution Of The Horse

Merychippus was the next horse on the evolutionary timeline after Miohippus. According to the Editors of Britannica, in their article entitled “Merychippus”, evidence of Merychippus appeared around seventeen million years ago during “the middle and late Miocene Epoch” (2017, para. 1). The number of years ago Merychippus appeared was not exact, so I took the number that seemed to be average. The Editors of Britannica also mention that Merychippus had a tooth pattern almost the exact same as horses today (2017, para. 2). So we can assume this is when the horse evolved its modern day teeth and diet. In his article “The Evolution of the Horse” E. Gus Cothran, who works in veterinary medicine & biomedical sciences and is also a clinical professor …show more content…
E. Gus Cothran stated Equus appeared during the Pliocene Epoch, around four and a half million years ago and continued into the early Pleistocene Epoch (2018, para. 8). In the big picture of horse evolution, four million years wasn’t that long ago. According to Kathleen Hunt Equus would have been around 13.2 hand highs and it’s body structure would have perfectly matched that of modern horses (2018, para. 6). Essentially we can assume Equus looked exactly like a pony would today. Cothran states Equus completely developed the ligaments running from the legs to the hooves that prevent the hooves from twisting when they hit the ground during movement (2018, para. 8). Essentially the development of this spring mechanism probably helped past horses outrun predators and maybe helps today's horses in competitions. Kathleen Hunt also mentions the teeth changed to be straight with high crowns for grazing (2018, para. 6). Those teeth would have the same structure as modern horse or Equus caballus. Hunt states Equus finished developing the rigid spine of today's horses and the neck became slightly longer for improved balance (2018, para. 6). Horses necks are important because they help with balance and let them reach grass easier. Overall Equus developed all the classic horse conformation traits and just had a shorter height. Cothran also mentions how the lifestyle of Equus determined both warm-blooded …show more content…
I selected the topic I wanted to discover information about, so then all I had to do was research. My researching consisted of me reading through a multitude of websites trying to find accurate information. I found it difficult to find accurate sources as most websites just consisted of someone's opinion and didn’t give an author or date. I also tried the library to see if they had any books on horse evolution but unfortunately they did not. However I eventually did find a couple reputable websites and from there I gathered my information and began to build my paper. I organized my information into paragraphs. Honestly once I started writing the paper the process became very easy and I just had to make sure I kept the correct evolution trait with the right