Researchers and scientists say 4.4 million year-old fossilized remains of a horse, unearthed in Ethiopia, suggest a new species.
The new species is said to be roughly the same size as a small zebra. These ancient equines were said to graze in the Afar grasslands millions of years ago. The new species was named Eurygnathohippus woldegabrieli after Giday Woldegabriel, a geologist who earned his PhD at Case Western Reserve University in 1987.
Aside from the importance of the discovery to paleontology in the area, the new species is also an important discovery for evolutionary biologists who study the evolutionary history of horses. The new species is said to bridge one of the gaps in the evolutionary tree for equines. "This horse is one piece of a very complex puzzle that has many, many pieces." says Scott Simpson, a professor of anatomy at Case Western's Reserve School for Medicine.
The fossil was discovered back in 2001 and scientists have been studying it ever since. "The fossil search team spreads out to survey for fossils in the now arid badlands of the Ethiopian desert. Among the many fossils we hound are the two ends of the foreleg bone -the canon-birlliant white and well preserved in the red-tinted earth." Simpson adds.
Other pieces of the bone were found one year later and further points to the ability of the new species to run at high speeds. Further analysis on fossilized teeth also indicated that E. woldegabrieli survived on eating grass in the Afar region. "Grasses are like sandpaper. "They wear the teeth down and leave a characteristic signature of pits and scratches on the teeth so we can reliably reconstruct their ancient diets." says Simpson.
Raymond L. Bernor, a horse expert from the Laboratory of Evolutionary Biology at the Howard University College of Medicine, spearheaded the analysis of the fossil remains. The analysis showed that while the fossils showed some similarities to two different species from 3.5 million years and 5 million years ago, there were enough differences to warrant the classification of E. woldegabrieli as an entirely new species of horse. The team gathered a number of fossils from the site and experts are still analyzing the specimens.
The findings have been published in the November issue of Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.