STL Science Center

STL Science Center

17 April 2018

The Ever Popular Shrunken Horse

If anyone has ever seen a documentary on the evolution of horses they have most likely seen or heard Bruce MacFadden. They may not have known it, but Dr. MacFadden has, for over 30 years now, been one of the premier horse evolution researchers in the world. Therefore, if one were to search for scientific articles on or mentioning Eohippus they could not, and certainly should not, be amazed when the first two results are MacFadden papers from the 1980s on the size of Eohippus and dental evolution using Eohippus as a vehicle for the discussion (and arguments for evolution based on horses too). There are more recent articles as well, of course, including Froelich's systematics paper on Eocene horses and even a description of museum mounted specimens by G. G. Simpson from 1932 (we all know by now I love reading older scientific articles so of course there was going to be at least one!).

No comments:

Post a Comment