Giant Ancient Llama
Palaeolama major
🦙
Chordata
Mammalia
Artiodactyla
Camelidae
Paleolama
Palaeolama major
The Giant Llama of the Pampas — Palaeolama major, a long-limbed browser of the Pleistocene lowlands, was the stately South American counterpart to the camel, built for endurance, height, and sweeping grassland vistas.
Description
Palaeolama major was among the largest of the extinct South American camelids, standing about 1.5 meters at the shoulder and nearly 2.5 meters in overall height. Its build was slender and long-necked, with limbs adapted for efficient walking over open terrain. Unlike modern llamas, it possessed a relatively elongated skull with high-crowned teeth suited for mixed feeding — both browsing shrubs and grazing tough savanna grasses.
It lived across southern Brazil, Uruguay, and northern Argentina, often in association with other megafauna such as Glyptodon, Macrauchenia, and Toxodon. Its fossil record from cave and fluvial deposits shows it was well adapted to fluctuating climates — cold, open grasslands during glacial phases and wooded savannas during warmer intervals.
Quick Facts
Max Mass
Shoulder Height
Standing Height
Length
Diet
Trophic Level
300
1.4
2.1
2.6
kg
m
m
m
Mixed Feeder
Herbivores – Grazers
Hunt History
Humans arrived in South America just as Palaeolama major was nearing its end. Archaeological evidence suggests that Paleoindians hunted camelids using projectiles and traps, much as Andean peoples later hunted vicuñas and guanacos. Its size would have made it a prized source of meat and hide, but like many megafaunal species, even modest hunting pressure — combined with climatic drying — likely pushed it to extinction.
Archaeological and fossil contexts:
Lagoa Santa, Brazil — Pleistocene deposits containing Palaeolama bones alongside human tools (~11,000 years BP).
Pampas Region, Argentina — Fossil remains with other megafauna in fluvial gravels (~20,000–12,000 years BP).
Toca da Boa Vista, Bahia, Brazil — Cave assemblage preserving skull and limb bones with signs of weathering and predator activity (~14,000 years BP).
Time & Range
Extinction Status
Globally Extinct
Extinction Date
Temporal Range
Region
11000
BP
Late Pleistocene
South America
Wiki Link
Fat Analysis
Fatness Profile:
Medium
Fat %
5
Est. Renderable Fat
15
kg
Targeted Organs
Hump/backfat, marrow
Adipose Depots
Hump/backfat (when present), visceral; marrow
Preferred Cuts
Hump/backfat
Hunt Difficulty (x/5)
3