A museum-quality reproduction of a Paleotherium (early horse) from the Eocene Age (50 million years) found in Messel, Germany. 4.3 kg, 51 x 37cm (20 x 14 1/2"). This fossil is the ancestor of all horses. This fossil reproduction is an exact copy, cast directly from the actual fossil itself. Not all the ungulates of the Eocene and Oligocene epochs were directly ancestral to modern horses. However, a good example is Paleotherium, which, even though it was related to genuine prehistoric horses like Hyracotherium (once known as Eohippus), had some distinctly tapir-like characteristics, possibly including a short, prehensile trunk on the end of its snout. Most species of Paleotherium seem to have been fairly small.

Very fine condition.