Why a Horse Has One Toe, Daily Racing Form, 1922-12-29

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WHY A HORSE HAS ONE TOE Hunting fossil animals is one of the most fascinating sports, says Enos Mills in his book, "Waiting in the Wilderness," in which he tells some of the queer things he has learned about fossil horses. The oldest discovered fossil of the horso belongs to the eocene epoch, perhaps four million years ago. He is known as eohippus or dawn horse. At that time he was not more than a foot high and had four toes and a rudimentary fifth one on each foot. By the following epoch, the oligocene, he had grown to the height of two feet and had reduced the number of toes to three. During the next epoch, the miocene, the great plains region of the west was uplifted and became a vast, grassy prairie. The horse, evidently benefited by grass, changed and developed rapidly. His legs lengthened, he at last came to his middle finger nail-one toe.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1920s/drf1922122901/drf1922122901_12_6
Local Identifier: drf1922122901_12_6
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800