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At least some ground sloths engaged in long-term parental care, with one adult (presumably female) Megalonyx found with two juveniles of different ages, with the oldest juvenile suggested to be 3–4 years old. [31] Juvenile ground sloths may have clung to the body of their mother for some time following birth, as occurs in living tree sloths. [32]
Megalonyx (Greek, "great-claw") is an extinct genus of ground sloths of the family Megalonychidae, native to North America.It evolved during the Pliocene Epoch and became extinct at the end of the Late Pleistocene, living from ~5 million to ~13,000 years ago. [3]
The last ground sloths in North America belonging to Nothrotheriidae, the Shasta ground sloth (Nothrotheriops shastensis), died so recently that their dried subfossilized dung has remained undisturbed in some caves – such as the Rampart Cave, located on the Arizona side of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area – as if it were just recently ...
The ground sloth thus forms the fifth most abundant representative of mammals in the Diamond Valley Lake Local Fauna after bison, horses, the mastodon Mammut pacificus, and the camel Camelops. In contrast, the two other sloths Megalonyx and Nothrotheriops that also occur in Rancho La Brea play are much less abundant, together accounting for 0.5 ...
Nothrotheriops is a genus of Pleistocene ground sloth found in North America, from what is now central Mexico to the southern United States. [1] This genus of bear-sized xenarthran was related to the much larger, and far more famous Megatherium, although it has recently been placed in a different family, Nothrotheriidae. [2]
Xibalbaonyx is an extinct genus of megalonychid ground sloth known from the Late Pleistocene of Mexico. Three species are known: X. oviceps and X. exiniferis from the Yucatan Peninsula and X. microcaninus from Jalisco. The genus is named after Xibalba, the underworld in Maya mythology.
Closeup of hand, showing claws Closeup of skull. Megatheriidae is a family of extinct ground sloths that lived from approximately 23 mya—11,000 years ago. [3]Megatheriids appeared during the Late Oligocene (Deseadan in the SALMA classification), some 29 million years ago, in South America.
Ground sloth remains found in both North and South America indicate that they were killed, cooked, and eaten by humans. [4] Climate change that came with the end of the last ice age may have also played a role, although previous similar glacial retreats were not associated with similar extinction rates.