The blue whale is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters (98 ft) and weighing up to 199 tonnes, it is the largest animal known ever to have existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can be of various shades of greyish-blue dorsally and somewhat lighter underneath. Four subspecies are recognized: B. m. musculus in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, B. m. intermedia in the Southern Ocean, B. m. brevicauda in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, and B. m. indica in the Northern Indian Ocean. There is also a population in the waters off Chile that may constitute a fifth subspecies.
Chili peppers, also spelled chile or chilli, are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. Chili peppers are widely used in many cuisines as a spice to add "heat" to dishes. Capsaicin and related compounds known as capsaicinoids are the substances that give chili peppers their intensity when ingested or applied topically. Chili peppers exhibit a wide range of heat and flavors. This diversity is the reason behind the availability of different types of paprika and chili powder, each offering its own distinctive taste and heat level.
The monito del monte or colocolo opossum, Dromiciops gliroides, also called chumaihuén in Mapudungun, is a diminutive marsupial native only to southwestern South America. It is the only extant species in the ancient order Microbiotheria, and the sole New World representative of the superorder Australidelphia, being more closely related to Australian marsupials than to other American marsupials. The species is nocturnal and arboreal, and lives in thickets of South American mountain bamboo in the Valdivian temperate forests of the southern Andes, aided by its partially prehensile tail. It consumes an omnivorous diet based on insects and fruit.
The southern right whale dolphin is a small and slender species of cetacean, found in cool waters of the Southern Hemisphere. It is one of two species of right whale dolphin. This genus is characterized by the lack of a dorsal fin. The other species, the northern right whale dolphin, is found in deep oceans of the Northern Hemisphere and has a different pigmentation pattern than the southern right whale dolphin.
The South American fur seal breeds on the coasts of Peru, Chile, the Falkland Islands, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. The total population is around 250,000. However, population counts are sparse and outdated. Although Uruguay has long been considered to be the largest population of South American fur seals, recent census data indicates that the largest breeding population of A. a. australis are at the Falkland Islands followed by Uruguay. The population of South American fur seals in 1999 was estimated at 390,000, a drop from a 1987 estimate of 500,000 - however a paucity of population data, combined with inconsistent census methods, makes it difficult to interpret global population trends.
The kodkod, also called güiña, is the smallest felid species native to the Americas. It lives primarily in central and southern Chile, as well as marginally in adjoining areas of Argentina. Since 2002, it has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List as the total population may be less than 10,000 mature individuals; it is threatened by persecution, and loss of habitat and prey base.
Macrauchenia is an extinct genus of large ungulate native to South America from the late Pliocene to the end of the Pleistocene. It is a member of the extinct order Litopterna, a group of South American native ungulates distinct from the two orders which contain all living ungulates which had been present in South America since the early Cenozoic, over 60 million years ago, prior to the arrival of living ungulates in South America around 2.5 million years ago as part of the Great American Interchange. The bodyform of Macrauchenia has been described as similar to a camel, being one of the largest known litopterns, with an estimated body mass of around 1 tonne. The genus gives its name to its family, Macraucheniidae, which like Macrauchenia typically had long necks and three toed feet, as well a retracted nasal region, which in Macrauchenia manifests as the nasal opening being on the top of the skull behind the eye sockets. This has historically been argued to correspond to the presence of a tapir-like proboscis, but some recent authors suggest a moose-like prehensile lip is more likely.
The spade-toothed whale is a very little-known species, the rarest species of beaked whale.
Molina's hog-nosed skunk, also called the Andes skunk, is a skunk species from South America. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Paraguay, and Uruguay, at elevations up to 5000 m.
Sloths are a Neotropical group of xenarthran mammals constituting the suborder Folivora, including the extant arboreal tree sloths and extinct terrestrial ground sloths. Noted for their slowness of movement, tree sloths spend most of their lives hanging upside down in the trees of the tropical rainforests of South America and Central America. Sloths are considered to be most closely related to anteaters, together making up the xenarthran order Pilosa.
The long-tailed spiny rat is a spiny rat species found in Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay.
Bennett's chinchilla rat is a species of chinchilla rat in the family Abrocomidae. It is found only in Chile where its habitat is Mediterranean-type scrub on the western side of the Andes. The IUCN has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".
The Maule tuco-tuco is a species of rodent in the family Ctenomyidae. It is found in Argentina and Chile, where it occupies several different types of habitats. It is a common species, and the IUCN has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern". The common and scientific names refer to a river and region in Chile within its range.
Dryolestida is an extinct order of mammals, known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous. They are considered basal members of the clade Cladotheria, close to the ancestry of therian mammals. It is also believed that they developed a fully mammalian jaw and also had the three middle ear bones. Most members of the group, as with most Mesozoic mammals, are only known from fragmentary tooth and jaw remains.
Coloniatherium is a meridiolestid mammal from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina. The single species, Coloniatherium cilinskii, was a large member of the family Mesungulatidae.
Donodon is an extinct genus of mammal from the Ksar Metlili Formation of Talssint, Morocco, which has been dated to the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous epochs. The type species D. perscriptoris was described in 1991 by the palaeontologist Denise Sigogneau-Russell. A second species, D. minor, was named in 2022. Donodon was a member of Cladotheria, a group that includes therian mammals and some of their closest relatives. It differed from dryolestids in having upper molars that were not compressed mesiodistally. Some studies have suggested that it was closely related to various South American cladotherians in the clade Meridiolestida, with specific similarities to Mesungulatum, a herbivorous mesungulatid, being noted. On the other hand, a 2022 phylogenetic analysis found it to be only distantly related to meridiolestidans, and instead closer to crown group therians.
Magallanodon is a genus of mammals from the extinct group Gondwanatheria. It contains a single species, Magallanodon baikashkenke. The species is the first Mesozoic mammal known from Chile, and is Late Cretaceous in age. It is known from individual teeth found in a quarry in the Río de Las Chinas Valley and La Anita Farm located in the Magallanes Basin in Patagonia. The fossils come from the Dorotea Formation and Chorrillo Formation, which is Late Campanian to Early Maastrichtian in age.
The Dorotea Formation is a geological formation in the Río de Las Chinas Valley of the Magallanes Basin in Patagonian Chile whose strata date back to the Campanian to Maastrichtian of the Late Cretaceous.
Ernestokokenia is an extinct genus of mammal, belonging to the Didolodontidae. It lived during the Early Eocene and the Middle Eocene, and its fossils were discovered in South America.
Neonematherium is an extinct genus of scelidotheriid ground sloths that lived in Argentina, Chile, and Colombia during the Early to Late Miocene. Fossils have been found in the Honda Group of Colombia, and the Río Frías Formation of Chile.
