parent_taxon josephoartigasia
In biology , an organism is any contiguous living system , such as an ___MASK33___ , ___MASK54___ , fungus , archaeon , or bacterium . All known types of organisms are capable of some degree of response to stimuli , reproduction , growth and development and homeostasis . An organism consists of one or more cells ; when it has one cell it is known as a unicellular organism ; and when it has more than one it is known as a multicellular organism . Most unicellular organisms are of microscopic scale and are thus loosely described as microorganisms . Humans are multicellular organisms composed of many trillions of cells grouped into specialized tissues and organs . A habitat is an ecological or environmental ___MASK24___ that is inhabited by a particular species of animal , ___MASK54___ , or other type of organism . The term typically refers to the zone in which the organism lives and where it can find food , shelter , protection and mates for reproduction . It is the natural environment in which an organism lives , or the physical environment that surrounds a species population . Mammals are any vertebrates within the class Mammalia ( from Latin " mamma " " breast "), a clade of endothermic amniotes distinguished from reptiles and birds by the possession of a neocortex ( a region of the brain ), hair , three middle ear bones and mammary glands . The sister group of mammals may be the extinct " Haldanodon ." The mammals represent the only living Synapsida , which together with the ___MASK9___ form the ___MASK75___ clade . The mammals consist of the Yinotheria including monotrema and the Theriiformes including the theria . The Andes or Andean Mountains are the longest continental mountain range in the world . They are a continuous range of highlands along the western edge of South America . This range is about long , about wide ( widest between 18 ° south and 20 ° south latitude ), and of an average height of about . The Andes extend from north to south through seven South American countries : Venezuela , Colombia , Ecuador , Peru , Bolivia , ___MASK65___ and Chile . The Pliocene ( also Pleiocene ) Epoch is the epoch in the geologic timescale that extends from 5 . 333 million to 2 . 58 million years BP . It is the second and youngest epoch of the ___MASK63___ Period in the Cenozoic Era . The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch . Prior to the 2009 revision of the geologic time scale , which placed the four most recent major glaciations entirely within the Pleistocene , the Pliocene also included the Gelasian stage , which lasted from 2 . 588 to 1 . 806 million years ago , and is now included in the Pleistocene . Binomial nomenclature ( also called binominal nomenclature or binary nomenclature ) is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts , both of which use Latin grammatical forms , although they can be based on words from other languages . Such a name is called a binomial name ( which may be shortened to just " binomial "), a binomen or a scientific name ; more informally it is also called a Latin name . The first part of the name identifies the genus to which the species belongs ; the second part identifies the species within the genus . For example , humans belong to the genus " ___MASK85___ " and within this genus to the species " ___MASK85___ sapiens ". The " formal " introduction of this system of naming species is credited to Carl Linnaeus , effectively beginning with his work " Species Plantarum " in 1753 . But Gaspard Bauhin , in as early as 1623 , had introduced in his book " Pinax theatri botanici " ( English , " Illustrated exposition of plants ") many names of genera that were later adopted by Linnaeus . ___MASK97___ monesi , an extinct species of South American caviomorph rodent , is the largest rodent known , and lived from about 4 to 2 million years ago during the Pliocene to early Pleistocene . The species is one of two in the " ___MASK97___ " genus , the other being " J . magna ". " J . monesi " is sometimes called the giant pacarana , after its closest living relative , the pacarana (" ___MASK32___ branickii ") in the family ___MASK40___ . The species may have weighed a ton , considerably larger than its closest living relative , the pacarana . Venezuela , officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a federal republic located on the northern coast of South America . It is bordered by Colombia on the west , Brazil on the south , Guyana on the east , and the islands of Trinidad and Tobago to the north - east . Venezuela ' s territory covers around with an estimated population . Venezuela is considered a state with extremely high biodiversity ( currently ranks 7th in the world ' s list of nations with the most number of species ), with habitats ranging from the Andes Mountains in the west to the Amazon Basin rain - forest in the south , via extensive " llanos " plains and Caribbean coast in the center and the Orinoco River ___MASK16___ in the east . A ___MASK42___ is a member of the genus Cuniculus of ground - dwelling , herbivorous rodents in South and Central America . It is the only genus in the family ___MASK10___ . They are large rodents with dots and stripes on their sides , short ears , and barely visible tails . They are also referred to as " gibnuts " or " royal rats ". Bolivia (; ), officially known as the Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country located in western - central South America . It is bordered to the north and east by Brazil , to the southeast by Paraguay , to the south by ___MASK65___ , to the southwest by Chile , and to the northwest by Peru . One - third of the country is the Andean mountain range , with one of its largest cities and principal economic centers , El Alto , located on the Altiplano . Bolivia is one of two landlocked countries ( the other is Paraguay ) that lie outside Afro - Eurasia . Bolivia is the largest landlocked country in the Americas . The Miocene is the first geological epoch of the ___MASK63___ Period and extends from about ( Ma ). The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell . Its name comes from the Greek words (',  less ) and (',  new ) and means " less recent " because it has 18 % fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene . The Miocene follows the Oligocene Epoch and is followed by the Pliocene Epoch . A genus ( genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms in biology . In the hierarchy of biological classification , genus comes above species and below family . In binomial nomenclature , the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus . The ___MASK63___ is a geologic period and system that spans 20 . 45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( ___MASK95___ ) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period ___MASK95___ . The ___MASK63___ is sub - divided into two epochs , the earlier Miocene and the later Pliocene . Some geologists assert that the ___MASK63___ cannot be clearly delineated from the modern geological period , the Quaternary . The Yungas ( Aymara " yunka " warm or temperate Andes or earth , Quechua " yunka " warm ___MASK24___ on the slopes of the Andes ) is a narrow band of forest along the eastern slope of the Andes Mountains from Peru , Bolivia , and northern ___MASK65___ . It is a transitional zone between the Andean highlands and the eastern forests . Like the surrounding ___MASK37___ the Yungas belong to the Neotropic ecozone and climate is rainy , humid , and warm . The pacarana (" ___MASK32___ branickii ") is a rare and slow - moving hystricognath rodent indigenous to South America . Native peoples of the region call it the " pacarana " ( false paca ) because it is superficially similar to the paca , a different rodent which is not in the same family . The pacarana has a chunky body and is large for a rodent , weighing up to and measuring up to in length , not including the thick , furry tail . The pacarana is nocturnal and occurs only in tropical forests of the western Amazon River basin and adjacent foothills of the Andes Mountains . It ranges from northwestern Venezuela and Colombia to western Bolivia , including the Yungas . It is common in Cotapata National Park in Bolivia . Rodents ( from Latin " rodere ", " to gnaw ") are mammals of the order ___MASK15___ , which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws . About 40 % of all mammal species are rodents ; they are found in vast numbers on all continents except Antarctica . They are the most diversified mammalian order and live in a variety of terrestrial habitats , including human - made environments . The ___MASK40___ are a family of South American hystricognath rodents : the dinomyids were once a very speciose group , but now contains only a single living species , the pacarana . Several of the extinct dinomyids were among the largest rodents known to date , the bison - sized " Josephoartigasia monesi " and the smaller " Josephoartigasia magna ". The dinomyids are thought to have occupied ecological niches associated with large grazing mammals due to the lack of true ungulates in South America until its later connection to North America . The modern pacarana is only modest in size , considerably smaller than the capybara . ___MASK97___ is an extinct genus of giant rodent from the Early to Late Pliocene related to the living pacarana . The genus includes the largest known rodent , ___MASK97___ monesi . The two species would have resembled gigantic pacarana , or capybaras the size of cows . As the first specimen was found in Uruguay , it was named in honour of José Artigas , the libertador of the country .