LectureListen to part of a lecture in an anthropology class. Then answer the qu

Listen to part of a lecture in an anthropology class.
The development of the horse has been recorded from the beginning, through all of its evolutionary stages, to the modern form. It is, perhaps, one of the most complete and well-documented chapters of paleontological history. Fossil finds provide us not only with detailed information about the horse itself but also with valuable insights into the migration of herds and even evidence for the speculation about the climatic conditions that could have instigated their migratory behavior.
Now geologists believe that the first horses appeared on Earth about sixty million years ago as compared with only two million years ago for the appearance of human beings. There is evidence of early horses on both the American and European continents, but it has been documented that, almost twelve million years ago at the beginning of the Pliocene Age, a horse about midway through its evolutionary development crossed a land bridge where the Bering Strait is now located. It traveled from Alaska into the grasslands of Asia and all the way to Europe. So, this early horse was a hipparion, about the size of a modern-day pony with three toes and specialized cheek teeth for grazing. In Europe, the hipparion encountered another less advanced horse called the anchitheres, which had previously invaded Europe by the same route, probably during the Miocene Period. Less developed and smaller than the hipparion, the anchitheres was eventually completely replaced by it.
By the end of the Pleistocene Age, both the anchitheres and the hipparion had become extinct in North America where they originated, as fossil evidence clearly demonstrates. In Europe, they evolved into the larger and stronger animal that is very similar to the horse as we know it today. For many years, this horse was probably hunted for food by early tribes of human beings. Then the qualities of the horse that would have made it a good servant were recognized—mainly its strength and speed. It was time for the horse to be tamed, used as a draft animal at the dawning of agriculture, and then ridden as need for transportation increased. It was the descendant of this domesticated horse that was brought back across the ocean to the Americas by European colonists.