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WillemSvdMerwe — Hilarcotherium castanedaii

#america #miocene #miyou #south #astrapothere #astrapotherium #hilarcotherium #castanedaii #astrapotheridae
Published: 2020-02-11 20:43:03 +0000 UTC; Views: 3451; Favourites: 149; Downloads: 17
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Description Another astrapothere!  Hilarcotherium castanedaii lived in the Middle Miocene, 15.5-11.8 million years ago, in South America (fossils found in Colombia).  South America at the time was an 'island continent', disconnected from North America.  As a result, a really distinctive kind of wildlife evolved there, kinds found nowhere else.  The astrapotheres in ways mimicked tapirs and elephants, though only very distantly related to them.  It reached a bodyweight of over a ton.  Another species, Hilarcotherium miyou, was estimated at weighing 6.5 tonnes, which would make it the largest astrapothere and one of the largest South American mammals ever. 
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Comments: 23

WhiteSkyline319 [2020-07-07 03:38:35 +0000 UTC]

👍: 1 ⏩: 1

WillemSvdMerwe In reply to WhiteSkyline319 [2020-07-07 19:40:41 +0000 UTC]

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perfesser-bear [2020-02-13 15:29:11 +0000 UTC]

(* Paying attention in Paleontology class *)

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WillemSvdMerwe In reply to perfesser-bear [2020-02-13 17:50:36 +0000 UTC]

Good for you!  Thanks for commenting!

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MadCarno [2020-02-12 16:17:18 +0000 UTC]

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WillemSvdMerwe In reply to MadCarno [2020-02-13 17:50:48 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, much appreciated!

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Nortstar [2020-02-12 14:39:19 +0000 UTC]

it look great ^^

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WillemSvdMerwe In reply to Nortstar [2020-02-13 17:50:55 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

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Nortstar In reply to WillemSvdMerwe [2020-02-13 18:08:10 +0000 UTC]

you are welcome

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Zimices [2020-02-12 07:34:09 +0000 UTC]

I'm really enjoying your astrapothere series.

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WillemSvdMerwe In reply to Zimices [2020-02-13 17:51:16 +0000 UTC]

Thanks and you're a big help with your skeletal reconstructions!

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creodont [2020-02-11 23:05:32 +0000 UTC]

I wonder if they were truly hairless or if they had short fur covering their bodies.

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WillemSvdMerwe In reply to creodont [2020-02-13 17:51:45 +0000 UTC]

Might have!  At this size anyways if they had short hair it wouldn't have been very obvious ...

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mortalshinobi [2020-02-11 22:27:29 +0000 UTC]

nice piece here

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WillemSvdMerwe In reply to mortalshinobi [2020-02-13 17:51:53 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

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mortalshinobi In reply to WillemSvdMerwe [2020-02-13 18:06:29 +0000 UTC]

welcome

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abrahamjones [2020-02-11 21:46:28 +0000 UTC]

Outstanding, and informative, as usual.

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WillemSvdMerwe In reply to abrahamjones [2020-02-13 17:52:03 +0000 UTC]

Many thanks!

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bobswin [2020-02-11 21:29:04 +0000 UTC]

It would be interesting to see a graphic of the main species of Astrapotheres side-by-side to illustrate their relative size.

👍: 0 ⏩: 2

WillemSvdMerwe In reply to bobswin [2020-02-13 17:52:32 +0000 UTC]

OK maybe I can do that ... ONLY ... the size estimates I get info for aren't actually very accurate ...

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creodont In reply to bobswin [2020-02-11 23:04:58 +0000 UTC]

It's roughly the same size and dimensions as a modern black rhinoceros.

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bhut [2020-02-11 20:56:01 +0000 UTC]

Cool!

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WillemSvdMerwe In reply to bhut [2020-02-13 17:52:39 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

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