Plantar (underneath) view of feet of a four-toed tapir (left) and a one-toed horse (right) by Nuria Melisa Morales-García. In the middle, a reconstruction of the extinct three-toed horse Hipparion, by Karolina Suchan-Okulska. Overall design by Morales-García.

Modern Horses Have Lost Their Additional Toes, Scientists Confirm

Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – The distant ancestors of modern horses had hooved toes instead of a single hoof, which vanished over time, according to researchers. The animals, such as the Eocene Hyracotherium, had feet like those of a modern tapir: four toes in front and three behind, each individually hooved with an underlying foot […]