Toxodon
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 Toxodon platensis
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| 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.
[edit] External links
- http://www.toyen.uio.no/palmus/galleri/montre/english/a31962_63.htm Toxodon platensis - brief description and fossil skull
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