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Megafauna Life of the Past James O. Farlow, editor Indiana University Press Bloomington & Indianapolis M E GA FAU N A R i c h a R d a . F a R i ñ a S e R g i o F. V i z c a í n o g e R R y d e i u l i i S g i a n t B e a S t S o F P l e i S t o c e n e S o u t h a m e R i c a This book is a publication of Indiana University Press Office of Scholarly Publishing Herman B Wells Library 350 1320 East 10th Street Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail iuporder@indiana.edu© 2013 by Richard A. Fariña, Sergio F. Vizcaíno, and Gerardo De Iuliis All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Megafauna : giant beasts of Pleistocene South America / Richard A. Fariña, Sergio F. Vizcaíno, and Gerry De Iuliis. p. cm. — (Life of the past) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-253-00230-3 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-253-00719-3 (eb) 1. Mammals, Fossil—South America. 2. Paleobiology—South America. 3. Geology, Stratigraphic—Pleistocene. I. Fariña, Richard A. II. Vizcaíno, Sergio F. III. De Iuliis, Gerardo, [date] QE881.M475 2012 569.098—dc23 2012017801 1 2 3 4 5 17 16 15 14 13 To past and current researchers of South American fossil mammals. Those of the past are an endless source of inspiration, those still current of intellectual motivation. To the memory of Mirta Tosar, my mother, who taught me to be bold and love animals as a person, and to Neill Alexander, who encouraged me in the same way as a scientist. R.A.F. To the memory of my parents, Eric and “Negra,” who instilled in me the value of hard work and honesty. To Susi, Rulo, Leo, Tano, Guille, and Nestor, the people with whom I share every day the joy of doing this job. S.F.V. To my family and the memory of my father and father-in-law, whose sacrifices allowed me the luxury of doing what I love. To Charles “Rufus” Churcher, who instilled in me the intellectual discipline to carry it out. G.D.I. The number of the remains embedded in the grand estuary deposit which forms the Pampas and covers the granitic rocks of Banda Oriental, must be extraordinarily great. I believe a straight line drawn in any direction through the Pampas would cut through some skeleton or bones. Besides those which I found during my short excursions, I heard of many others, and the origin of such names as “the stream of the animal,” “the hill of the giant,” is obvious. At other times I heard of the marvellous property of certain rivers, which had the power of changing small bones into large; or, as some maintained, the bones themselves grew. As far as I am aware, not one of these animals perished, as was formerly supposed, in the marshes or muddy river-beds of the present land, but their bones have been exposed by the streams intersecting the subaqueous deposit in which they were originally embedded. We may conclude that the whole area of the Pampas is one wide sepulchre of these extinct gigantic quadrupeds. Charles R. Darwin, November 26, 1833 ...

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