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HEMIAUCHENIA

GENERAL INFORMATION

Length: 2.4 m Weight: 1,200 kg Feeding: Herbivore Period: Middle Miocene to late Pleistocene Possible habitat: Plains Discovery: North and South America, 1880 Species: 9

HISTORY

It is an extinct genus of camelid that evolved in the North American prairies during the Miocene epoch, about 10 million years ago. Some species of this genus diversified and migrated to South America at the beginning of the Pleistocene, giving rise to the modern llama. This genus became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene.

CHARACTERISTICS

The dimensions of their jaws and the size and arrangement of their teeth suggest that Hemiauchenia were herbivores, mainly browsers, i.e. they fed on the leaves, tender shoots or fruits of tall, generally woody plants such as shrubs.