Why are North American horses have one-toed and South American horses three-toed?

Question

"Apparently it would be a bit embarrassing for an evolutionist to explain why evolution converted a three-toes horse to a one-toed horse in North America, while converting a one-toed horse into a three-toed horse in South America."

Gish, D. T. 1993. Creation scientists answer their critics. El Cajon, CA: Institute for Creation Research.: 131.

Answer 1

I don't know where Gish got his education but I suspect that he got his degree by mailing in UPC codes. Horses show a very nice change from five toes to one (plus two splint bones). It never went the other way.

Answer 2

Uh, three-toed horses went extinct a long time ago.  In fact ALL horses when extinct in the Americas a long time ago.  It wasn't until European invaders, explorers and settlers brought horses to the Americas that they were found there.  Even the Mustang is descended from domestic European horses gone feral, like the dingo in Australia is descended from domestic dogs gone feral.

Answer 3

There haven't been three-toed horses in millions of years. All members of the family Equidae, the horse family, have a single toe on each foot. I suspect you are talking about tapirs, which are placed in the same order as horses, Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates), which also includes rhinos. However, tapirs belong to a completely different family, the Tapiridae - they are NOT horses. There are four species, three of which are native to South America. Here's an image of a Brazilian tapir:

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v42...