Fossils
Sloth
The giant ground sloth was one of the enormous creatures that thrived during the ice ages. Looking a little bit like an oversized hamster it probably fed on leaves found on the lower branches of trees or bushes. The largest of these ground sloth's was Megatherium which grew to the size of a modern elephant with a weight over five tons.
Giant Sloth's had very large, dangerous-looking claws. Despite their size they were probably only used to strip leaves or bark from plants. Their teeth were small and blunt in keeping with their herbivore diet. Examinations of their hip bones suggests that they could stand on their hind legs to extend their grazing as high as twenty feet.
Like other giant creatures that disappeared at the end of the Pleistocene period (about 10,000 years ago), Megatherium, its smaller sloth cousin, Mylodon, and other varieties of the giant sloth are now extinct. Only the small tree sloth survives today. Or so scientists believe.
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Molar Tooth |
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