Last week, I unveiled a fossil jaw from the Eocene, that sure looked like a tapir, but was most definitely not! It actually came from the genus, Hyrachyus.
From the Encyclopedia of Life:
“Hyrachyus eximius is an extinct member of order Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates) that lived during the Eocene era (56-34mya). It is the oldest known Rhinocerotid…and is so primitive that it was initially mistaken for an early tapiroid…Its family was a precursor to modern rhinoceroses, and shares a common ancestor with tapirs....H. eximius did not closely resemble either modern rhinos or tapirs; it looked more like a small, slender horse with a large, blunt head. It lacked both the rhino’s horns and the short proboscis (short trunk) of tapirs. It ranged through much of Eurasia and North America.”
Kudos to those who figured this one out!
