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tylopod
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A white alpaca (Lama pacos) stands on rocky terrain with sparse vegetation, facing to the right. Bactrian camel An adult Arabian camel and its calf stand on rocky ground with orange desert dunes in the background in Oman. Two guanacos with tan and white fur stand on a grassy hill with mountains in the background in Patagonia, Chile. llama vicuña Four Bactrian camels with shaggy brown coats stand on dry grassland in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia, with rolling hills in the background. World map showing the historical evolution and distribution of camels and llamas, with present-day camelid ranges shaded in orange across Africa, Asia, and South America. North America is marked as the camelid source region. Colored arrows trace migration routes: green for camel ancestors moving to Eurasia and Africa, blue for llama ancestors migrating to South America, and additional arrows indicating more recent introductions to Australia and other regions. Insets note that camelids first emer World map showing the geographic ranges of camelid species, with color-coded outlines for each: alpaca, llama, guanaco, and vicuna ranges are marked in South America; Arabian camel or dromedary in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia; domesticated Bactrian camel across Central Asia; and wild Bactrian camel in a small area of East Central Asia. Australia is shaded for introduced dromedaries.
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Tylopod
Tylopod Alpaca (Lama pacos).

tylopod

mammal
Also known as: Tylopoda
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

tylopod, any of the pad-footed, even-toed, hoofed mammals of the suborder Tylopoda (order Artiodactyla). This group contains three extinct families and one living family, Camelidae, which contains the camels and the lamoids—the llama, alpaca, guanaco, and vicuña.

The chief distinguishing features of the tylopods are found in the structure of the feet, the bone enclosing the middle ear, the neck vertebrae, the number and form of the teeth, and the absence of horns. The living forms are cud chewers and have a rumen.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.