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According to the scientists, specimens of the oldest horse species known to science, Sifrhippusbecame smaller over tens of thousands of years to adapt to rising temperatures caused by increased methane emissions.This research could predict how today's animals will adapt to a planet becomes warmer due to climate change and carbon emissions, say scientists.Researchers made the discovery after analyzing fossilized horse teeth discovered in the U.S. state of Wyoming and found that older specimens were higher, and most recently smaller. During the period of 175,000 years studied by scientists spent 56 million years ago, many species have disappeared. Those that have survived have become smaller over time to resist less."What can be seen in these fossils is the process of natural selection and evolution, caused by temperature change," said research co-author Jonathan Bloch of the Florida Museum of Natural History.The study shows that a third Sifrhippus became smaller over the first 130,000 years, reaching weigh only 4 pounds, as a cat. Then, the next 45,000 years, horses have increased again in size, reaching a weight of 7 kg.Due to carbon emissions, the global average temperature has increased during that period by about 6 degrees Celsius. Also, the surface water temperature in the Arctic was about 23 degrees Celsius, which is similar to that of today in subtropical waters."Our study provides some conclusions relevant to what will happen in the next two centuries. Climatic models predict an increase in global temperature to 4 degrees Celsius in the next hundred years, "said co-author Ross Secord of the University Nebraska-Lincoln. "Some birds are already smaller today than in the past," said Secord. "Changes in temperature recorded in the past have been a much slower, lasting 10,000 to 20,000 years that global temperatures will rise 5-6 degrees", said Secord. "Because it is difficult to predict whether animals are able to adapt to changes in the following centuries" concluded Secord.