Homalodotherium

An illustration of an extinct relative of modern hoofed mammals. It resembles a bear or ground sloth, with a rhino-like upper lip and chunky claws on its limbs.

Homalodotherium, a South American notoungulate mammal from the Early-to-Middle Miocene of Patagonia (~20-15 mya). Standing about 1.4m tall at the shoulder (4′7″), it seems to have convergently evolved to fill the same selective browsing niche as the North American chalicotheres and the later giant ground sloths.

Despite being an ungulate it had claws rather than hooves, and walked plantigrade on its hind feet but digitigrade on its front feet. It would have been capable of rearing up bipedally to pull down branches with its long forelimbs, with the shape of its nasal bones suggesting it may have also had a prehensile upper lip to help it strip off vegetation while feeding.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *