The Evolution of Horse Hooves: An In-Depth Biology Essay and Analysis

This essay examines the evolution of horse hooves, focusing on how horses adapted to their environment over millions of years. The essay highlights the shift from ancient horses with multiple toes and shorter legs to modern horses with single hooves and longer legs, enabling them to run faster and survive in open grasslands. The development of hooves is presented as a result of environmental pressures, forcing horses to develop longer legs and lose their side toes. The essay references scientific studies that explain the change in the internal geometry of horse toes and the increase in the number of bones in the hooves, which allowed them to manage their body weight, gallop, and walk faster. Ultimately, the evolution of the horse's hooves is presented as a key adaptation for survival, allowing them to escape predators and thrive in their changing habitats.

Running head: EVOLUTION
EVOLUTION
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1EVOLUTION
Evolution is defined as the process through which diverse living organisms are
developed as compared to their ancestors or the past history of their ancestors. The
development of hooves among horses are highlighted in this essay that will exhibit why the
horses lost their toes and developed hooves in order to gallop faster. The ancient horses had a
small body and moved comparatively slowly with 3 toes but due to the changing surrounding
the horses were exposed to the novel environment that forced them to develop or adapt longer
legs (McHorse, Biewener & Pierce, 2019).
The evolution of hooves in the horses initiated many millions of years ago when the
horse were shifted to the open grassland from the protected forests. The ancient horses had
small body with short legs associated with three toes on the front feet and four toes on the
back feet. As the horses were exposed to new environment they were forced to develop or
adopt longer legs. Horses were considered as the sole creatures among the animal kingdom
who had single toe and thus during the process of evolution the side toes of the horses shrunk
in size and started disappearing with time (Willekes, 2016). This resulted in evolution of
horse’s legs as their legs were developing larger in size and they could travel faster. Different
scientist studied the evolution of horse’s legs and presented a three-dimensional model that
explained the generation of hooves based on the detailed study of extinct horses. The pressure
on the horse’s legs was varying as the legs had developed in size and in situations like
jumping and galloping, the horse could not manage their body balance on their toes. From the
study, it was established that the side toes of ancient horses played a crucial role in assisting
the horse to manage their body weight without breaking their bone (Lundqvist, 2018). Since,
the horse’s legs had evolved and more mass was gathered in their body, their additional toes
consumed extra energy that further slowed down their walking speed and the entire geometry
of their toes were changed with time. In order to help the horses to manage their body weight,
gallop and walk faster, the internal geometry of the horse’s toes were changing or evolving

2EVOLUTION
that resulted in generation of hooves. The total number of bones present in the hooves of the
horse’s also increased that allowed them to create a new structure of their feet that will
enhance their performance by running faster, dodging quickly and jumping (Busby &
Rutland, 2019).
Therefore, it was established that the disappearance of their side toes was evolved and
generated among the horses in the form of hooves that will allow the horses to easily move
their legs forth and back with an enhanced speed. The adoption of longer legs will assist the
horses to run fast in case any predators chase them and also help them to manage their body
weight as the horses are huge and have a heavy weight, thus, small legs will not help the
horses in managing their body weight and run faster.

3EVOLUTION
References
Busby, D., & Rutland, C. (2019). The Horse: A Natural History. Ivy Press.
Lundqvist, E. (2018). U.S. Patent Application No. 15/886,433.
McHorse, B. K., Biewener, A. A., & Pierce, S. E. (2019). The evolution of a single toe in
horses: causes, consequences, and the way forward. Integrative and comparative
biology.
Willekes, C. (2016). The Horse in the Ancient World: From Bucephalus to the Hippodrome.
Bloomsbury Publishing.