Palaeotherium Skeleton
Palaeotherium ('old beast') is an extinct genus of primitive perissodactyl ungulate. George Cuvier originally described them as being a kind of tapir, and as such, Palaeotherium ispopularly reconstructed as a tapir-like animal. Recent reexaminations of the skulls show that the nasal cavity was not designed to support a small trunk, thus starting a recent trend to reconstruct them as looking more horse-like. Recent anatomical studies also suggest thatPalaeotherium, along with other palaeothere genera such as Hyracotherium, were closely related to horses.
Reconstruction by Heinrich Harder
The average species of Palaeotherium was about 75 cm (2 ft 6 in) tall at the shoulder and lived in the tropical forests covering Europe around 45 million years ago, during the early to midEocene.[1] The largest species, P. magnum of Mid Eocene France, grew to be almost as large as a horse.
A tapir-like reconstrucion of Palaeotherium