Artist's notes

Macrauchenia (Macrauchenia patachonica) was a unique herbivore native to South America. It resembled a large llama but was more closely related to horses and tapirs. Its most distinctive feature was its unusual nose, which could have been large and soft like a deer’s or small like a tapir’s trunk. During the Ice Age, South America was isolated, developing its own distinctive wildlife. However, when humans arrived around 14,000 years ago, they encountered familiar animals, as well as these strange creatures. The warming climate and human hunting contributed to the extinction of many large animals, including the macrauchenia, in a period of rapid megafaunal extinction.