Macrauchenia Paleoart

The first remains of Macrauchenia had the privilege of being discovered by Charles Darwin and later studied by Richard Owen.

Although they were originally related to camelids, they were not related to them, being ungulates of the order Litopterna. These would be more closely related to the current perissodactyls (which includes horses, tapirs and rhinoceroses).

This animal lived in Pleistocene South America

It would be a young individual, which has not reached the maximum size of its species.

The remains of the skull used for this reconstruction still show the last molars not fully erupted.

The appearance of our reconstruction, in terms of colour and fur, would be somewhat reminiscent of some perissodactyls with which it is related, although distantly.

The enigmatic morphology of the skull of this animal with its receding nostrils has led to speculation about different and probable morphologies of its appearance in life.

The most traditional interpretation would be with a small trunk similar to a tapir.

The most recent is a prorhiscis type, similar to that of the moose, with which it shares more internal similarities.

A mitogenomic timetree for Darwin’s enigmatic South American mammal Macrauchenia patachonica

Ancient proteins resolve the evolutionary history of Darwin’s South American ungulates

Cranial characters associated with the proboscis postnatal-development in Tapirus (Perissodactyla: Tapiridae) and comparisons with other extant and fossil hoofed mammals

Swerving as the escape strategy of Macrauchenia patachonica Owen (Mammalia; Litopterna)

Fantastic beasts and what they ate: Revealing feeding habits and ecological niche of late Quaternary Macraucheniidae from South America