Scientists have found the fossil of a 4.4 million year old horse in the fossil fields of Ethiopia. They discovered the first pieces of an extinct species of horse which they say was about the size of a small zebra. Ethiopia today, is dry, but 4.4 million years ago it would have been covered in grasslands and woods.

The region of the discovery is famed for bearing the world’s longest and most continuous record of human evolution and scientist believe the horse would have been alive the same time as our 4.4 million year old human ancestors. The name of the horse is Eurygnathohippus woldegabrieli; two ends of the foreleg bone and the canon were unearthed. The leg bones indicate the horse had longer legs than today’s horses and was a very fast runner.

It is thought the horse grassed on grass just like zebras of today because of teeth that were uncovered and worn down with pits and scratches that grass grazer have.

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