Hypohippus

Hypohippus
Temporal range: Barstovian-Clarendonian
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Hypohippus osborni skeleton
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Equidae
Subfamily: Anchitheriinae
Genus: Hypohippus
Leidy, 1858
Species
  • H. affinis Leidy 1858
  • H. osborni

Hypohippus (Greek: "under" (hypos), "horse" (hippos)) is an extinct genus of three-toed horse, which lived 17–11 million years ago. It was the largest anchitherine equid about the size of a modern domestic horse, at 403–600 kg (888–1,323 lb) and 1.8 m (5.9 ft) long. It was a long-necked, high-shouldered browser with sub-hypsodont, lophodont (rhino-like) dentition, that fed on the tough vegetation of forest understory and shrubs. Its deep preorbital fossae and retraction of the nasal notch hint at the presence of a long, muscular and prehensile upper lip that would aid during selective browsing. Overall its ecology would have been more comparable to modern okapi than to grazing horses. Fossils of it have been found in Nebraska, Colorado, and Montana.

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