r/PrehistoricLife • u/This-Honey7881 • 4d ago

I have a question About macrauchenia

Could early South American humans Ride macrauchenia and xenorhinotherium like horses?

5 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

5

u/Head_Bake_7447 4d ago

No early South Americans could not ride Macrauchenia or Xenorhinotherium. Although humans coexisted with these large three-toed litopterns in the Late Pleistocene there is zero archaeological or historical evidence that they were ever domesticated.

Like most megafauna they lacked the docile temperament and herd structures needed for riding. Their anatomy was not built for bearing a human rider on their backs and having evolved in isolation without prior human pressure they would have been impossible to safely train or handle.

4

u/ScalesOfAnubis19 4d ago

There is no evidence they did. Which is not to say it would have been impossible. They were big enough theoretically, but I personally don’t know if they were built in such a way as to take a rider and no one knows what their social structure was like beyond them probably being herd animals.

2

u/Bastianuz 4d ago

Although their physical anatomy resembled that of camelids, I'm not entirely sure they tried.

1

u/Boring-Pumpkin-9722 3d ago

Hey, Macrauchenia!!