''Eurygnathohippus woldegabrieli'' is an extinct species of prehistoric horse. The 4.4 to 4.2 million-year-old fossils of its teeth and bones were found in 2001 and 2002 in Ethiopia. It was identified as a new species in 2013 by researchers at

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

, and the species named after geologist and Case Western alumnus Giday WoldeGabriel. The species was estimated to be about the size of a small zebra, and had three-toed hooves. Tooth wear patterns and analyses of bone composition indicate that ''E. woldegabrieli'' grazed on grasses similar to the coarse C diet of modern zebras or wildebeests. Compared to ancestral '' Eurygnathohippus'' horses of six to ten million years ago such as the late Miocene ''E. feibeli'', which lived and ate in forests, ''E. woldegabrielis teeth were taller and more worn, and its longer and thinner leg bones suggest that it was well adapted for running. The medial Pliocene species ''E. hasumense'', a more advanced horse from 3.5 million years ago and forward, is both taller and has a longer nose than ''E. woldegabrieli'', a further advanced adaptation toward living in open grasslands.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15304838 Pliocene horses Pliocene mammals of Africa Pliocene odd-toed ungulates Pliocene extinctions Extinct animals of Africa