A groundbreaking discovery in northeastern Brazil has shed new light on the existence of ancient camelid species, revealing that they lived thousands of years longer than previously thought.
Giant Camel-Like Creatures Lived Thousands of Years Longer Than Once Thought
In what is now northeastern Brazil, large mammals may have roamed as recently as 3,500 years ago. This finding challenges the current understanding of when ancient megafauna went extinct.
The conventional wisdom has been that massive animals such as ground sloths disappeared around 11,000 years ago, marking the beginning of the Holocene epoch. However, recent discoveries have started to chip away at this narrative. Last year’s finding of a 4,000-year-old wooly mammoth was a significant development in this area.
New research published in the Journal of South American Earth Sciences has shed more light on the matter. Geologist Fábio Faria and his team conducted carbon-dating on eight fragments of megafauna teeth from two paleontological sites in Brazil. The results were surprising: two of the teeth, belonging to the camelid species Palaeolama major and Xenorhinotherium bahiense, dated back around 3,500 years.
Palaeolama major was a species of camelid that lived during the Pleistocene epoch in South America.
Fossil evidence suggests it roamed the region between 1 and 2 million years ago.
This ancient camel was likely adapted to the local climate, with features such as hooves and a coat suitable for its environment.
Palaeolama major is now extinct, but its discovery has provided valuable insights into the evolution of camelids in the Americas.
Palaeolama major is an ancient relative of today’s llamas native to South America, while Xenorhinotherium bahiense had the body of a llama and the nose of a tapir. The discovery suggests that these animals were in contact with humans for a few thousand years longer than previously thought.
Xenorhinotherium Bahiense is an extinct species of mammal that lived during the Paleocene epoch, around 60 million years ago.
Fossil remains were found in Brazil's Bahia state, hence its name.
This animal was a member of the family Didolodontidae and was characterized by its unique dental structure.
Scientists believe it was a herbivore, feeding on 'plants and fruits.'
Limited fossil evidence suggests that Xenorhinotherium Bahiense was relatively small in size, likely weighing around 10-20 kilograms.
Previous research has noted other megafauna fossils around 6,000 and 5,000 years old on the American continent and elsewhere. However, this new finding is particularly significant as it implies that extinctions are rarely homogeneous. The fact that both fossils were found at the same site in northeastern Brazil suggests that the region might have been a refuge for remaining individuals of species such as Palaeolama major and Xenorhinotherium bahiense.
According to paleoecologist Dimila Mothé, ‘The environment in the Brazilian Intertropical Region was undergoing changes by that time. Open fields were turning into forests, and these animals might have had less area to graze and looked for refuge in the remaining savannah.‘ This theory raises questions about the role of human activity and climate change in the extinction of megafauna.
Fábio Faria notes that Brazilian researchers used to follow the North American view that megafauna were wiped out by overhunting. However, this new discovery is a game-changer: ‘There’s a lot of work to do.‘
