Artist's notes

The hippidion (Hippidion principale) was a unique, ancient equid species that lived in the Argentine Pampas during the Ice Age. Unlike modern horses, it had a soft, deer-like nose and nimble lips for picking leaves, flowers, and fruits, differing from wild horses that mainly ate grasses. The hippidion was smaller, with some as small as ponies. As forests spread, their habitat shrank, leading to their extinction around 10,000 years ago. Ice Age humans hunted them for food, using large spear points designed for big game. As large animals became scarce, people adapted by hunting smaller prey.