#extinct horse

[ildarotyrannus]

Another New Year means another obligatory piece of holiday art. :) Since 2026 is the Year of the Horse, I decided to choose one of the many extinct horse species. This is Mesohippus bairdi, which lived during the Early Oligocene in North America. Unlike earlier horses, Mesohippus had three-toed feet with hooves, with the middle hoof larger than the side hooves. During the Oligocene, climate change reduced the area of ​​rainforests, forcing ancient horses to adapt to life in open spaces. Reducing the number of toes is one such adaptation. However, Mesohippus were much smaller than modern horses, and their low-crowned teeth were better suited to eating soft foods like fruit rather than tough grass.

Last year, I continued to develop my digital skills. I hope this year will be just as fruitful, if not more so. Happy New Year!

Adobe Photoshop, 2025-2026.

[rayless-reblogs]

Mysterious Extinct Japanese Cow-Horse

"Wushi-uma" taken from Wikimedia, from 1934.

I'm currently reading Year of the Wild Boar, a memoir by Helen Mears about her time spent in Japan in the mid-1930s. Without context or explanation, she quotes several accounts of an isolated, unique horse breed called the "Ushi-uma". It lived only on Tanegashima Island and was said to closely resemble a cow (ushi-uma means "cow horse"), primarily for having no mane or hair on its tail. According to Wikipedia, the breed was extinct by 1950.

Ushi-uma netsuke taken from zacke.at.

Has anyone ever heard of this beast? Is this a hoax? It doesn't look inordinately cowlike to me -- it has the heavy forehand and less developed hindquarters you see in Przewalski's horses. But the hair thing is weird. Does anyone on horseblr have ideas about the mane and tail?

Apparently it had government protection but was still extinct within a matter of decades. I wonder if WW2 played a part.

[nowscience-blog]

Permafrost preserved the ‘oldest blood in the world’ boosting hopes of bringing extinct species back to life.

The discovery was made by an international team of scientists who are also hoping in future to clone the extinct woolly mammoth from genetic material frozen in permafrost.

For more information on this story here’s a link to the article:

https://www.nowscience.co.uk/single-post/2019/04/17/Ice-Age-foal-discovered-in-permafrost-with-liquid-blood-in-its-heart

[moszeuchreets]

Admittedly, I was very excited to post this as I didn't think hoses can be this big (unless you consider their relatives). Equus Giganteus was likely the largest horse to have roamed the earth, reaching up to 2.2 meters (6.6 feet) (19.8 hands) to the shoulder, and weighing up to 1500kg (3300 lbs). They roamed the North American plains until 12,000 years ago, likely being killed off by humans.

Artwork made by Homero13: https://www.deviantart.com/homero13