Jefferson initially believed that the bones belonged to a giant lion, which he named the “Great Claw.” He later came to discover, however, that it was no lion at all. The president was interested in fossils, and his friend sent him the mysterious bones that he had found in a cave in West Virginia. 1) Interestingly, Thomas Jefferson discovered one specific species of the giant ground sloth. We've put together a list of fun facts to help you learn a little more about them. These sloths are an incredibly interesting species. Some fossil evidence has even been found as far north as Canada and Alaska. Scientists believe that they lived all over South America and North America. They were able to endure this freezing climate. They also lived during the Ice Age, where ice and snow covered a majority of the Earth. The giant ground sloths lived mostly in forests and around rivers or lakes. They were large enough to eat avocados entirely, and they would disperse their seeds with their excrement. Giant ground sloths are also known for their seed spreading abilities. This particular sloth had climbed into a volcanic gas vent and died, which mummified its body and its dung, allowing us to discover more about its diet. Scientists found remnants of a dung ball near a preserved giant ground sloth in the 1920s, and analysis showed that it had eaten a diet of cacti, fruits, yuccas, and saltbushes. They had peg-like teeth perfect for eating greenery and curved claws that aided in their foraging and stripping branches. Based on the dental analysis and chemical testing, the sloths were vegetarians.
The giant ground sloth did have long claws but only used them to eat leaves and fruits. In comparison, present-day sloths are, on average, around 2 feet long and weigh less than 14 pounds. They were very tall, standing up to 12 feet. It was also ten times larger than the sloths that we know today and could weigh up to four tons, which is about an elephant’s size. The giant ground sloth was the largest bipedal mammal that has ever existed, meaning that it walked on two legs, unlike today's sloths, which are arboreal and live in trees. What Was The Giant Ground Sloth Like?Īlthough it is related to the sloths we see today, the giant ground sloth is unlike any mammal we have ever seen. Scientists found footprints from this ancient creature in Argentina, near the same site that Charles Darwin collected species in the 1830s. Other fossil records have indicated that it lived in Argentina, Uruguay, and Bolivia. He gave it the name Megatherium americanum, meaning “great beast from America''. The first giant ground sloth skeleton was discovered in 1788 by a man named Manuel Torres in Argentina. When Was the Giant Ground Sloth Discovered? Another possible explanation would be that a disease had wiped out many large mammals during this time.
Others believe that predation and destruction of habitats could have been the cause. Some believe that it was due to the climatic changes at the end of the Ice Age, altering their food sources. Nobody knows the exact reason they went extinct, either. It is not known exactly when they went extinct, though. Around the end of the Ice Age, the sloths began to die off. Searches discovered one fossil with 41 odd cuts that appear to have been caused by a human-made tool.Įxperts believe that they originated in South America and migrated into North America around 8 million years ago. There have been fossils found that show cut marks, indicating that a human had hunted the creature. They lived during the Ice Age, but experts believe that the ground sloths walked the earth when humans were alive. When Was The Giant Ground Sloth Alive?įossils of the ground sloth have shown that it was alive in the Pleistocene Period, and likely lived through the Holocene's beginning, which started approximately 11,700 years ago. In this article, we will teach you everything you need to know about the Giant Ground Sloth. It is hard to believe these vast creatures once roamed our world. Some of them were grass grazers, others were burrowers, and some even spent time swimming in the ocean. Their distant ancestors, however, were quite the opposite. There are six living species of sloths today, and they are known to be small and slow. The giant ground sloth, or the Megatherium americanum, is the largest bipedal mammal ever to walk the earth! This gigantic mammal was the ancestor of our current-day sloths and was larger than life.