[2][3] Hipparion evolved from Cormohipparion,[2] and went extinct due to environmental changes like cooling climates and decreasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

[4] The genus "Hipparion" was used for over a century as a form classification to describe over a hundred species of Holartic hipparionines from the Pliocene and Miocene eras that had three toes and isolated protocones.

Since then, groups such as the genera Cormohipparion and Neohipparion were proposed to further sort these species, typically based on differences in skull morphology.

[5] Hipparion in sensu stricto (s.s.), or a strict sense, describes the genus of Old World hipparionines from remains found in Eurasia (France, Greece, Turkey, Iran, and China) from the Late Miocene era (~10-5 Ma, or million years ago).

This diet is indicated by fossil evidence of microscopic wear patterns of scratches and pits on the enamel of Hipparion's teeth, observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).