South American Mammals

To the right of the fish drawers, you can look at some of the animals that used to roam prehistoric South America.

South American Mammals from Ted Rogers on Vimeo.

Competition from invasive species puts a huge amount of pressure on creatures already inhabiting the area. Food and niches that once belonged to only one set of animals are given to the fittest. An analogous scenario happened in Australia when humans made it over about 40,000 years ago. Today, creatures like Zebra Mussels, Walking Catfish, Kudzu, and Cane Toads cause ecological headaches around the world.

That's not to say that the land bridge closing was all bad for South American animals. Animals like sloths, armadillos, and opossums are still around today. Giant Sloths made it up North, and only went extinct about 14,000 years ago. Fossils of the ostrich sized Terror Birds have been found in Florida and Texas. The phrase "survival of the fittest" was the obvious truism for the American Interchange.