Nikos Solounias ist deeply involved with horses and their ancient relatives of times long past. For several decades he ventured out into the world to learn everything he can about the history of the equids. His approach of in-depth examination of the modern horse and constant comparison with paleontologic findings afford him rare insights into anatomy and function. In this book the focus is set on three remarkable discoveries in the head, the dentition and the limbs of the modern horse. In the equine head the the interaction of nasal cavity, the nostrils but especially of the pre­orbital fossa and the nasal diverticulum are examined in detail. This not only allows new insights into the abilities and functions of the nose but also gives insights into the evolution of the anatomy of the equid face. In the case of the dentition the interaction between the teeth and the vegetation while chewing provides new insights that explain the structure of the teeth. Additionally new theories about hypsodonty give further insight into the anatomy and evolution of the teeth. His research on the lower limbs of the horse provide the perhaps most striking results. Investigations of embryos andpaelontologic finds support the novel five-digit scenario of the meta­carpals and metatarsals. This reveals misunderstandings and new ideas about monodactyly.

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Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil
Dr. Friedrich Pfeil
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Nikos Solounias was born in Greece. He is a professor of anatomy and embryology at the New York Institute of Technology and a Research Associate in Palaeontology at the American Museum of Natural History. He has published 143 scientific peer-reviewed articles, and three books. Namely: 'Anatomy and evolution of the giraffe', 'Human head and neck embryology' and 'Placing Samotherium in its place'. His most important contributions are the study of the Miocene Samos fauna, the development of tooth micro wear, the dietary evolution of horses through the Cenozoic, the explanation as to why some herbi­vores have tall (hypsodont) teeth and the discovery that the ruminants also have five digits in their foot.

I have been interested in bones since I was four years old. It was a deep internal drive and I was born with it. It is my demon. I had made collections of bones, fossils and x-rays in elementary school. When I was 12-year-old, John Melentis showed me the Pikermi fossils at the museum in Athens. That day blew my mind. I was sure I was deeply connected with the Miocene fossils. Our family comes from Samos (all four grandparents) and when young my grandmother told me a story that on Samos there was an elephant cemetery where elephants go to die. In 1959 I went to find the elephant cemetery and I run into fossils at Samos. The very first fossil I found near the Mytilinii Village was a femur of Samotherium (an extinct giraffid). Other fossils were rhino bones and hipparions. I came to the United States to study biology in 1966. A cold December day was the second day of my arrival in the USA, a friend took me to the American Museum of Natural History and informed Malcolm McKenna and Thomas Rich that a young person was interested in paleontology. Rich invited me to go to Alberta to find early mammals. After volunteering there for a few days, I told them I wanted to study Pikermi and Samos. In 1966 Malcolm McKenna and Morris Skinner showed me the Samos collection at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. I am from Samos and for this reason I was encouraged to the study of Samos fossils of the museum. The Samos collection was made by the eminent paleontologist Barnum Brown in 1921-1924. The Samos collection is large and impressive. I became immediately attached to it. All these animals had lived near my home millions of years ago. Among other fossils there was a hipparion horse. It was named then Hipparion proboscideum. It was stunning to me how similar and yet how different it was from the modern horse. Overall it looked like a modern horse. But there were some features that were remarkably different. It had a deep depression in front of its eye and the hooves were not one but three. Yet, it was in most ways like the modern horse. I wondered why there was a strange depression in front of the eye and why the three hooves? What were the differences in the lips and face and what did it eat? That specimen left an impression on me and directed my career. Since then, I have studied biology and geology. I have specialized in mammals and the fossils from the island of Samos. I studied the geology of Samos with the supervision of John VanCouvering and Marc Weidmann. I have excavated for rodents at Samos. In Lausanne Marc Weidmann was my support and helped me a great deal with the Samos fossils. My wife Bernadette helped me a lot with my museum and field studies. I have studied the fossils in many natural history museums and I have tried to understand the paleoecology of the Samos animals and of the late Miocene. I have spent many years with trying to research their paleodiets and paleoecology. I have developed a tooth microwear method and a tooth mesowear method. I have excavated with the Harvard team in the Miocene Siwaliks of Pakistan. Now with this book, I am returning to the anatomy and evolution of the horse and the fascinating horse-like ancestors.