Prehistoric life
The first Macrauchenia skeleton was actually discovered by Charles Darwin on a stop-over on his famous journey on board The Beagle. Since then many more remains have been found in the Lujan formation in Argentina. Although this animal looked like it should be a member of the camel family, it was actually related to a group of animals that no longer exists - the litopterns. Its strange skull suggests that it had a muscular proboscis. Little work has been done on Macrauchenia, but its ankle joints and shin bones seem to be adapted for extreme mobility, allowing it to twist and turn to avoid pursuers at high speed.
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Pack tactics
Sabretooths hunt prime plains targets, a herd of Macrauchenia.
Sabretooths hunt prime plains targets, a herd of Macrauchenia.
Unusual creatures
The isolated fauna of Pleistocene South America developed unique oddities.
The isolated fauna of Pleistocene South America developed unique oddities.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Discover the other animals and plants that lived during the following geological time periods.
Ice ageMacrauchenia ("long llama", based on the now superseded Latin term for llamas, Auchenia, from Greek terms which literally mean "big neck") was a long-necked and long-limbed, three-toed South American ungulate mammal, typifying the order Litopterna. The oldest fossils date back to around 7 million years ago, and M. patachonica disappears from the fossil record during the late Pleistocene, around 20,000-10,000 years ago. M. patachonica was the best known member of the family Macraucheniidae, and is known only from fossil finds in South America, primarily from the Lujan Formation in Argentina. The original specimen was discovered by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle. In life, Macrauchenia resembled a humpless camel with a short trunk, though it is not closely related to either camels or proboscideans.
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Herbivorous
Social
Adapted to running
Viviparous
