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Article: Splendid Isolation

Article from:
Natural History
Article date:
June 1, 2009
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South America was an island for millions of years, fostering an evolutionary explosion of unique mammal species.

MENTION Australia, and kangaroos, koalas, and platypuses spring instantly to mind. Madagascar? Lemurs, of course! What about South America's native mammals? Llamas, alpacas, and jaguars, right? Think again. Like many familiar South American animals, those species represent descendants of relatively recent invaders from North America. South America's original native mammals were far more unusual by today's standards: elephant-size ground sloths, tanklike armadillo relatives weighing as much as two tons, tiny burrowing marsupials, and hundreds of hoofed species that looked like ...

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