Toxodon

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iToxodon
Fossil range: Pliocene-Pleistocene
Toxodon platensis
Toxodon platensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Notoungulata
Suborder: Toxodonta
Family: Toxodontidae
Genus: Toxodon
Species: T. platensis
Binomial name
Toxodon platensis
Owen, 1837

Toxodon is a genus of mammals, similar to the capybara but now extinct, that lived in the late Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs in South America. Toxodon fossils were studied by Charles Darwin on his voyage on the Beagle. It is speculated that this animals was much like hippopotamuses in South America, and was almost certainly hunted by the Smilodon.

T. platensis was a large squat herbivore (about 2.75 m (9 feet) long and 1.5 m (5 feet) high) with the general appearance of a rhinoceros.

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