THE OFFICIAL DINO LAND WEBSITE STATE FOSSILS
The Ice Age world was very strange indeed. During this period of intense global cooling and glaciation the present day United States was inhabited by several species of odd and giant mammals, including the famous mammoths, saber toothed cats, and giant sloths. But, not all of these strange mammals were large. In fact, many of them were not. Among these 'normal sized' creatures were the horses, which, upon evolving from a small squirrel sized ancestor, have retained the same basic size that they possess today. One of the most well known species of Ice Age horse is Equus simplicidens, or otherwise known to native Idahoians as the Hagerman Horse.
The discovery of the Hagerman Horse follows a very common trend in paleontology. In 1928 a small town farmer named Elmer Cook was planting on his land near the tiny village of Hagerman, Idaho. Upon digging he discovered some strange bones, bones that resembled horses, but were a bit different. He decided to send a few samples off to the Smithsonian Institution, and amazed at the remains, the museum dispatched a crew led by paleontologist James W. Gidley to visit Cook's site. When they arrived they were amazed: before their eyes was an immense bone bed, a bed that today is widely considered to be one of the largest sites of ancient horse bones in the world.
But, was the Hagerman Horse actually a horse? Paleontologists have been asking this question since the initial discovery of the bones back in 1928. The overall anatomy of the creature appeared to resemble a horse, but the chewing surfaces on the teeth and the details of the skull indicated that the animal was more closely related to the living Grevy's Zebra of Africa than to modern horses. So, what was this creature? A true horse? A full blooded zebra? Or, possibly something in between? Scientists are still guessing, but regardless of the enigma they have placed the fossil in the species Equus simplicidens, a horse species also known from Texas, Florida, and Nebraska.
What we do know is that the Hagerman Horse lived in Idaho about three and a half million years ago, making it the oldest known representative of E. simplicidens. During this time Idaho was much warmer and moister, and the land may have resembled an African savannah. The Hagerman Horse itself likely had a stiff mane, and was about the size of a modern Arabian Horse. Or, in other words, it was large enough to ride. Of course, humans will never have the opportunity to ride this creature, but hopefully in the foreseeable future paleontologists can figure out exactly what it is!
FOOTNOTE: All text is taken directly from the magazine Fossil News: The Journal of Avocational Paleontology, July 2000. Image is taken from the book Fossiling in Florida, written by Mark Renz and published by the University Press of Florida.
© 1997 brusatte@theramp.net
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