Modern horses have lost their additional toes, scientists confirm RSocPublishing
in front and three behind, each individually hooved with an underlying foot pad., asses, and zebras, have only a single toe, the left over original third toe on each foot, encased in a thick-walled keratinous hoof, with an underlying triangular frog on the sole that acts as a shock absorber.
"In later fossil horses there were only three toes front and back. The extra toes, known as side toes, in these horses were smaller and shorter than in a tapir, and likely did not touch the ground under normal circumstances, but they may have provided support in exceptional situations, such as sliding or forceful impact.
This was partially based on an interpretation of the hoof prints of an extinct three-toed horse, Hipparion from Laetoli in Tanzania 3.7 million years ago, the same site that yielded the famous foot prints of the hominid Australopithecus. These hoof prints apparently lacked a frog, and this added weight to the notion that the side toes of horses like Hipparion now contribute to the frog of modern horses.
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