Pantolambda was one of the first mammals to expand into the large-animal niches left vacant by the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Pantolambda and other early pantodonts would quickly evolve into heavy animals such as Barylambda and Coryphodon.

These were the first large browsers, pioneering styles of life later followed by many unrelated groups of mammals: rhinos, tapirs, hippos, ground sloths, and elephants.

[5] A generalized early mammal, it had a vaguely cat-like body, heavy head, long tail and five-toed plantigrade feet ending in blunt nails that were neither hooves nor sharp claws.

[6] Pantolambda probably ate a mix of shoots, leaves, fungi, and fruit, which it may have supplemented with occasional worms or eggs.