The horse, Equus caballus scientific name, is a mammal of the family perissodactyle horses, herbivorous, quadruped, neck long and arched. A female horse is called and the juvenile filly, foals. The breeding and use of the horse by the man known as equine livestock or horses. The name comes from the Latin caballus horse which gave its name to the gelding, the feminine Latin equa led mare. 55 million years ago lived in North America Hyracotherium (or Eohippus), which descended all members of the genus Equus. The Eohippus had a size ranging between 20 and 40 cm high, with four toes on the forelimbs and three in the rear. At first glance, similar to a dog or a small animal. The evolution of Eohippus him increase his height to 115 cm and lose their fingers to be monodactilo, ie moved with one finger.
Gradually, his unique finger to develop helmets harden to flee from predators, similar to the hooves before its most evolved state. The Eohippus evolve later to a species called Mesohippus, larger and feet had already shaped hull. Then it evolved into Merychippus after Pliohippus the species, then evolve to equus. The evolution of the horse can be traced through the fossil record of rocks over millions of years, until the Hyracotherium (also called Eohippus), a small herbivorous mammal that lived during the Eocene period. The Hyracotherium was an animal similar in size to a fox, and had four toes on their front legs and three in the rear, ending each on a nail. At that time appeared simultaneously in North America and Eurasia various species and related genera.
It appears that the Eurasian species disappeared, but the American species in the Oligocene led to the genre Mesohippus the size of a gazelle, which had only three fingers on the legs front. Somewhat later, in the Miocene, to Mesohippus Anchitherium happened Hypohippus and it is believed that both species colonize after Eurasia from North America, in this period was possible to cross over both continents, although at the time of Spanish colonization there were no horses between Native American peoples were subjected. Other descendants of Mesohippus were Miohippus and Merychippus, the latter genre developed very high crowned teeth, which allowed him, unlike Hyrachotherium, grazing grass, browse twigs of trees and shrubs. Among the descendants of Merychippus Hipparion was that during the Pliocene moved and expanded from North America to Eurasia, and Pliohippus, the first ancestor of a single finger on the forelimbs, Pleshippus predecessor and its successor, the modern horse, ie , the genus Equus. The passage between North America and Eurasia was done through the Bering Strait when the two continents were joined, for several tens of million years ago. It is believed that during the Pleistocene the genus Equus extended its range from North America to Eurasia, Africa and South America. Some time later the American horses became extinct, perhaps because of illness. Several findings in caves in Europe indicate that the horse was a very abundant animal in the stone age in that continent have been found sufficient skeletal remains of horses in and around these caves as to say that were consumed by human. During the evolution to the genus Equus, taken into account the remains found in rocks dating from different periods, where they found bones of the forelimbs and molars, pieces which evaluate the characteristics of each species. In E-quinos.net find more information if you want to know much more about, donkeys and other equine species.