A new fossil will be unveiled this Saturday, May 6th at the University of Wyoming’s Geological Museum. The fossil, known as Hyracotherium, or dawn horse, is a small, dog sized horse that lived during the Eocene Epoch roughly 56 million years ago to 33.9 million years ago.
Hyracotherium, previously known as eohippus, is the earliest known member of the family Equidae, the family that includes modern day horses, zebras, and donkeys.
“Wyoming is really familiar with eohippus, they are some of the most common fossils you can find in certain areas in Wyoming. So they’re just really common in the state. And there’s something that we are known for research wise,” said Laura Vietti, the museum and collections manager for the UW geological museum.
These fossils, which are common in the Bighorn Basin, Green River Basin, and near the great divide, can even be found near Casper and across northeastern Wyoming.
“I think there’s just a tie with the fact that they’re horses, you know, we’re known for our whole horse culture. I think the fact that we have these early relatives of horses in Wyoming and that they’ve always been in Wyoming pretty much close to their time of origin is pretty cool,” said Vietti.
The Hyracotherium fossil will be unveiled at Saturday’s Fossil Fish Festival, an event hosted by the Geological Museum in partnership with the Wyoming State Geological Survey and the NASA Space Grant Consortium.
“That’s the whole reason I have the fossil fish festival, because Wyoming has some of the most fossiliferous deposits in the entire world. The Green River Formation out by Kemmerer, Wyoming was one big ancient lake and it produces thousands and thousands and thousands of fossil fish, and you can’t go to a rock shop or a natural history museum in the world without seeing one of these fish. It’s a really important fossil resource for Wyoming,” said Vietti.
Saturday’s event, which is primarily geared to K-12 kids, will have events for all ages, including the opportunity to take home a fossil fish of one’s own while supplies last.
