This permit application is for conducting palaeohistological analyses on the early Pliocene three-toed horse Eurygnathohippus hooijeri and the recently extinct cape zebra Equus capensis, two crucial species during the evolution of equids in Africa. Bones and teeth of both extinct horses will be histologically analysed to estimate key life history traits of the species, including their age at maturity, their growth rate, their age at death and/or their age at weaning. Because life history traits are highly influenced by ecological conditions - mainly predation pressure and resource availability -, the life history data obtained for both fossil equids will be used to reconstruct the ecological context in which African fossil equids evolved.
