Dinosaurs 101

Perhaps this is the prehistoric start of the macarena? 

Can ya picture this guy dancing?

Macrauchenia

mack-row-KAY-nee-ah

How big is he?

About 10 feet long and 500-1,000 pounds

What did he eat?

Mostly grasses and low lying plants

Distinguishing Characteristics:

Thin legs; long neck; long snout

About Macrauchenia:

Macrauchenia is one of those prehistoric mammals that looks like it was assembled from bits of other creatures: its quadrupedal stance and long, slender legs are reminiscent of a horse or camel, but it had a long, giraffe-like neck and (perhaps) a short, prehensile appendage at the tip of its snout reminiscent of an elephant's trunk. Technically, Macrauchenia belonged to a family of ungulates (hoofed mammals) known as litopterns, distant cousins of horses that evolved independently in South America in a roughly equine direction.
Macrauchenia was first discovered on 9 February 1834 in Argentina at Port St Julian by Charles Darwin when he was surveying the port. As a non-expert he tentatively identified the leg bones and fragments of spine he found as "some large animal, I fancy a it could be a Mastodon". In 1837, soon after Darwin's return, the anatomist Richard owen revealed that the bones including vertebrae from the back and neck were actually from a gigantic creature resembling a camel or llama which Owen named Macrauchenia patachonica. More Macrauchenia fossils have been found, mainly in Patagonia, but also in Chile, Bolivia, and Venezuela.