14 DAY TRIAL // A new study published in the journal Nature details how, after sequencing the DNA of an animal that roamed the Earth 560,000 – 780,000 years ago, researchers were able to rewrite the history of the horse family.
Sources explain that, after this animal's sequenced genome was compared to that of a 43,000-year-old horse and to that of several modern horse breeds, it was concluded that the forefather of horses, zebras, donkeys and the like lived approximately 4 million years ago.
This contradicts previous studies, which state that the horse family has only been around for about 2 million years.
Horse family history aside, what the researchers who worked on this project are first and foremost proud of is the fact that they have succeeded in sequencing DNA samples that have been laying around for thousands of years.
More so since the samples they had at their disposal were fairly degraded.
The scientists owe their success to state-of-the-art technologies that have been developed over the past years.