Hyracotherium
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| Hyracotherium Temporal range: Eocene |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Eutheria |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | Palaeotheriidae |
| Genus: | Hyracotherium Owen, 1841 |
| Binomial name | |
| Hyracotherium leporinum Owen, 1841 |
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| Synonyms | |
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?Eohippus Marsh, 1876 |
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Hyracotherium (meaning "mole beast") was the earliest-known horse - it was the size of a tiny dog. Another name for this genus is Eohippus (meaning "dawn horse").
Description[change]
Eohippus lived during the early Eocene Epoch, about 50 million years ago. It lived in the Northern hemisphere (in Asia, Europe, and North America). The first fossils of this tiny horse were found in England by the famous paleontologist Richard Owen in 1841 and named Hyracotherium.
