Fig. 119.—A Pampas Horse (†Hippidion neogæum). Restored from a skeleton in the National Museum, Buenos Aires.
The Artiodactyla were much more varied; there were peccaries, many species of llamas, which then extended into Brazil, and were not confined, as at present, to the colder portions of the continent. There were also numerous deer, all of the South American type, and two different antelopes have been reported, though that family has no representatives in the southern continent now. Several species of †mastodons have been found in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and elsewhere, but none of the true elephants. Why the †mastodons were able to make their way into South America, while the elephants were not, is one of the puzzling questions of mammalian distribution to which no answer can be given.
All the preceding types of hoofed animals, the horses, tapirs, peccaries, llamas, deer, antelopes and †mastodons were migrants from the north, and four of these, tapirs, peccaries, llamas and deer, were able to gain a permanent footing in South America and are more or less abundant there to-day, while the horses, antelopes and †mastodons failed to do so and died out. In addition to these, there were the indigenous types, which are now extinct and have never been found outside of the Neotropical region. An extremely peculiar creature, †Macrauchenia, was the last surviving member of an order, the †Litopterna, which for ages played a very important rôle in South America. †Macrauchenia was a large animal, somewhat larger and of much heavier build than a camel, to which it had a considerable, though entirely superficial, resemblance. The head was relatively small and must have had quite a long proboscis; the neck was very long, suggesting that the animal browsed upon trees, which is also indicated by the character of the teeth; the legs were long and stout, the feet short and each provided with three toes. Another curious creature was †Typotherium, from which is named the group of the †Typotheria, which some authorities regard as a suborder, while others assign to it a full ordinal rank.
Fig. 120.—A Pampean †Litoptern (†Macrauchenia patachonica). Restored from a skeleton in the Museum of La Plata.