Dinohippus

Dy-noe-hip-pus.
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Benjamin Gutierrez

Vertebrate Paleontologist

Benjamin Gutierrez is a leading expert on dinosaurs, particularly the mighty theropods. His fieldwork in South America has uncovered new species and provided insights into dinosaur social structures.

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Name

Dinohippus ‭(‬Terrible horse‭)‬.

Phonetic

Dy-noe-hip-pus.

Named By

Classification

Chordata,‭ ‬Mammalia,‭ ‬Perissodactyla,‭ ‬Equidae,‭ ‬Equinae,‭ ‬Equini.

Diet

Herbivore.

Species

D.‭ ‬leidyanus‭

Size

Roughly about‭ ‬1.5‭ ‬meters tall at the shoulder,‭ ‬but some variance between species.

Known locations

Across North America from Canada to Mexico,‭ ‬but particularly well known from the USA.

Time Period

Tortonian of the Miocene through to the Calabrian of the Pleistocene.

Fossil representation

Altogether the remains of well over a hundred individual Dinohippus are known.

In Depth

       Originally classed as a species of Pliohippus,‭ ‬Dinohippus seems to have been one of the most common horses in prehistoric North America.‭ ‬Dinohippus is considered to have been very close to the modern horse genus Equus,‭ ‬and like modern horses,‭ ‬Dinohippus lacked a dished face.‭ ‬Dinohippus‭ ‬was once considered to have been an exclusively monodactyl horse,‭ ‬but some fossil evidence has now revealed that a few individuals were tridactyl,‭ ‬possibly indicating that the monodactyl/tridactyl development was dependent more upon the species as opposed to a hard and fast rule about the genus.‭ ‬The legs and feet of‭ ‬Dinohippus are also formed in such a way that Dinohippus could stand for extended periods of time with only the bare minimum of energy expenditure.‭ ‬It is for these features that many people have considered Dinohippus to be the immediate ancestor to modern horses.

Further Reading

-‭ ‬Miocene Equidae of the Texas gulf coastal plain.‭ ‬-‭ ‬University of Texas,‭ ‬Bureau of Economic Geology‭ ‬-‭ ‬J.‭ ‬H.‭ ‬Quinn‭ ‬-‭ ‬1955. ‬-‭ ‬Astrohippus and Dinohippus.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology‭ ‬4‭(‬2‭)‬:273-283.‭ ‬-‭ ‬B.‭ ‬J.‭ ‬MacFadden‭ ‬-‭ ‬1984. -‭ ‬Estimating the body mass of extinct ungulates:‭ ‬a study on the use of multiple regression.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Journal of Zoology‭ ‬-‭ ‬M.‭ ‬Mendoza,‭ ‬C.‭ ‬M.‭ ‬Janis‭ & ‬P.‭ ‬palmqvist‭ ‬-‭ ‬2006.

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