La Venta (Colombia)

La Venta is a fossil locality located in the modern departments of Tolima and Huila in Colombia.

It provides a glimpse of what life in the region was like before the main wave of the Great American Interchange.

The fossils occur in Middle Miocene rocks of the Honda Group, which is divided into the younger Villavieja Formation and the older La Victoria Formation.

The La Venta fauna contained ancient species of animal genera and families still alive today, as well as some entirely extinct prehistoric lineages.

These animals lived some 13.8 to 12 million years ago in the Laventan age, which was named after La Venta.

Most glyptodonts – like this one – have been found in Patagonia , but they lived at La Venta too.
Huilatherium pluriplicatum .