Eohippus: according to the current wisdom, the eohippus is the ancestor of the modern horse.

Based on fossils discovered in New Mexico in the late 1800’s, the eohippus was a small, horse like creature. This little herbivore had four toes on his forelegs, and three toes on his hind legs.

One particular eohippus had six toes on his right foreleg. Someone was looking for him.

In 1876, Othniel C. Marsh discovered a skeleton in New Mexico, which he named Eohippus. The word comes from the Greek ηώς (eos), dawn and ιππος (hippos), horse. Eohippus, according to Marsh, was the “dawn horse.”