Description

Palaeolama mirifica was a medium-sized camelid that resembled a cross between a modern llama and an antelope, with long, slender limbs and a relatively short face compared to the true camels of the western plains. Unlike its larger relatives (Camelops hesternus and Hemiauchenia macrocephala), Palaeolama was more compact and forest-adapted, thriving in the subtropical woodlands of the southeastern United States.

It had a long, flexible neck and high-crowned teeth suited to mixed feeding — browsing leaves and shrubs as well as grazing grasses. Stable isotope analyses suggest it was an ecological generalist, capable of exploiting a wide range of vegetation types during climatic swings of the late Pleistocene.

Fossils are abundant in Florida’s karstic river deposits (notably the Ichetucknee, Withlacoochee, and Aucilla River basins), where its remains occur alongside mastodons, ground sloths, and saber-toothed cats.