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Oriental Hippo evolved before American horse (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

eohippus

'horse' is the definition.
(eohippus is a kind of horse)

'oriental hippo evolved before american' is the wordplay.
'oriental' becomes 'e'.
'evolved' indicates anagramming the letters (the order of letters changes or evolves).
'before' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'american' becomes 'us' (abbreviation for United States).
'hippo' is an anagram of 'ohipp'.
'e'+'ohipp'+'us'='EOHIPPUS'

I've seen this clue in The Hindu.
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