Palaeotherium

Fossil skull of Palaeotherium

• Europe

Palaeotherium is an extinct mammal species that is classified in the related with the horses family of Palaeotheriidae. It lived from the late Eocene to the Oligocene lower mainly in Europe today.

Palaeotherium may have outwardly resembled a tapir. The rather short legs would carry forward four and three toes behind, the molars were niederkronig and geared more towards leaves food. From the construction of the nasal bones, it is concluded that these animals had a short proboscis. Palaeotherium was larger than its predecessor and reached depending on the type shoulder height 0.75 to 1.4 meters.

They probably lived in herds together in swampy forests where they plucked leaves with their trunks of the trees and ate.

Fossil remains of Palaeotherium (the name means " old beast " ) were first discovered in the early 19th century in Paris and first described by the great French naturalist Georges Cuvier. Systematically, the species is considered to be one of the last and largest of the family of Palaeotheriidae. This group, according to current view is not the direct ancestors of the horse is, but formed a relatively early again extinct side branch.