Description

Xenorhinotherium was one of the last surviving members of the litopterns, a unique lineage of South American hoofed mammals that evolved entirely apart from horses and camels. Its long neck and limbs gave it a tall browsing stance, and its skull shows evidence of a small, muscular proboscis — much like a saiga or a short-nosed tapir.

It lived in the semi-arid open woodlands and dry savannas of northeastern Brazil, particularly in Bahia, Sergipe, and Rio Grande do Norte. Fossils indicate a body form intermediate between Macrauchenia patachonica (the famous Patagonian species) and later camel-like macraucheniids, suggesting Xenorhinotherium was well adapted to mixed feeding — browsing leaves and grazing tough vegetation when necessary.

Isotopic analysis of tooth enamel shows a flexible diet of C₄ grasses and C₃ shrubs, allowing it to thrive in ecotonal landscapes where drought cycles alternated with brief wet periods.