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.

Meaning of scientific name
"Long llama" ('Auchenia' was the old Latin name for llama, but comes from the Greek for 'neck').

Pronunciation of scientific name
mak-raw-KEE-nee-ah

Statistics
1.5m at the shoulder.

Physical description
Macrauchenia looks a little like a camel, although it is not closely related to modern hoofed animals. Its strange skull suggests that it had a muscular proboscis.

Distribution
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.

Habitat
They inhabited the woodlands and grasslands of North and South America.

Diet
Macrauchenia browsed on trees.

Behaviour
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.

Conservation status
Extinct.

History
They lived 7 million - 20,000 years ago. This bizarre-looking animal is a member of a group of extinct animals called litopterns, which are only known from South America. No one knows how they are related to other mammals - until more fossils are found they are assumed to be distant relatives of our familiar hoofed animals. Macrauchenia was the last of its kind - when it went extinct it was the end of the litoptern lineage.

Closest relative
None - it is a member of the now extinct group of South American hoofed animals.