Chasicotherium
Encyclopedia
Chasicotherium rothi was a large notoungulate discovered in the Chasico Formation, in the stream homónimo of the Party of Villarino, Province of Buenos Aires
, Argentina
. The sediments in which the animal remains were discovered have an antiquity between 10 and 9 million years. It was an herbivore that preferred dry and open atmospheres. Like Toxodon
and Trigodon
, certain similarities to the hippopotamus
and rhinoceros
exists in its build, but there is no special relationship to either animal. This phenomenon may be an example of “adaptive convergence” or “parallel evolution”, which is to say, species that are unrelated to each other evolve similarities through adapting to very similar environments and occupying equivalent ecological niches. Most notable of Chasicotherium was its trait that, instead of having ungulates' phalanges or hooves in his legs, it had robust claws. Its weight was approximately one ton. It was a great herbivore of the Tertiary
Pampas.
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. The sediments in which the animal remains were discovered have an antiquity between 10 and 9 million years. It was an herbivore that preferred dry and open atmospheres. Like Toxodon
Toxodon
Toxodon is an extinct mammal of the late Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs about 2.6 million to 16,500 years ago. It was indigenous to South America, and was probably the most common large-hoofed mammal in South America at the time of its existence....
and Trigodon
Trigodon
Trigodon gaudryi is an extinct species of the family Toxodontidae, a large bodied notoungulate which inhabited South America during the Miocene living from 11.61—7.25 Ma and existed for approximately ....
, certain similarities to the hippopotamus
Hippopotamus
The hippopotamus , or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" , is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest...
and rhinoceros
Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....
exists in its build, but there is no special relationship to either animal. This phenomenon may be an example of “adaptive convergence” or “parallel evolution”, which is to say, species that are unrelated to each other evolve similarities through adapting to very similar environments and occupying equivalent ecological niches. Most notable of Chasicotherium was its trait that, instead of having ungulates' phalanges or hooves in his legs, it had robust claws. Its weight was approximately one ton. It was a great herbivore of the Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
Pampas.