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By Cathryn Conroy, Netscape News Editor

The most complete horse fossil ever found in the Americas has been discovered by Peruvian geologists in Arequipa, some 600 miles south of Lima. This is significant because it shows--once again--that horses existed in the Americas before they were brought to the New World by the Spanish in the 16th century. They originally came to South America about 3 million years ago, making their way across the isthmus of Panama from North America, but eventually became extinct. "Horses were reintroduced to South America. With this (find) we hope to remind people this animal did exist here, but died out some 10,000 years ago," Rodolfo Salas, head of Peru's Natural History Museum's paleontology department, told Reuters.

The preserved skeleton of an Equus (Amerihippus) santaeelenae in July 2002 in an area that was full of volcanic ash and mud flows. This ancestor of the modern horse looked a little different with a larger head, a thicker neck, and shorter legs. "It was definitely a good runner...and lived in open areas like savannahs or pastures," Salas explained to Reuters.

The horse is preserved with its head arched back and its front legs splayed out in front of its body. The fossilized skeleton will go on display this Friday at the Natural History Museum in Lima. "Without a doubt, this is the most complete horse fossil that exists in the Americas. Absolutely all the bones have been preserved," Salas told Reuters.

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