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Megatherium
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Megatherium was a giant ground sloth. That from the late
Pliocene epoch to the early Holocene, between about 2 million
and 8,000 years ago. It is believed to have gone extinct
as a result of hunting by humans.
Megatherium weighed around 5 tons,
and was 20 feet (6 meters) tall when standing on its hind limbs.
It is believed to have stood on its hind legs, using its tail
for support as a tripod, and used its front limbs to pull down
branches from which it would have eaten leaves. It was probably
also equpped with a long tongue.
Megatherium probably most ate leaves, but may also have hunted
or scavenged meat as well - there is for eaxmple, some
suggestion that it could have used its claws as daggers.
One possibility is that Megatherium could have scavenged
kills made by
Smilodon.
Another possibility is that Megatherium may have hunted
Glyptodonts
- a number of fossils of
Glyptodonts
have been showing the creature apparently dying on its back, and
the only creature in the habitat that could have flipped over a
Glyptodont,
is Megatherium.
Click here for more Megatherium Pictures
Megatherium was a giant ground sloth that lived between 2 million and 8,000 years ago
Related Information & Resources
See Also
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Megatherium Books
Here are some books from Amazon.com:
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By William Brown Hodgson
BiblioLife
Paperback (56 pages)
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By William C. Sturgis
Kessinger Publishing, LLC
Hardcover (34 pages)
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This Book Is In English. |
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By William Brown Hodgson
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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! |
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By William Brown Hodgson
General Books LLC
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This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Volume: 10; Original Published by: New York, Barlett |
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By Susan Heinrichs Gray
Child's World
Library Binding (32 pages; 1)
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Books LLC
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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Megatherium, Mylodon, Ground Sloth, Mylodontidae, Glyptodontidae, Odobenocetops, Eremotherium, Scelidotheriidae, Hemiauchenia, Orophodontidae, Thalassocnus, Arctoidea, Thylacosmilus, Hispaniola Monkey, Ferugliotherium, Panthera Onca Augusta, Chapalmalania, Pampatheriidae, Panthera Onca Mesembrina, Metaxytherium, Gondwanatherium, Sudamerica, Vincelestes, Leontinia, Hippidion Saldiasi, Nothropus, Octodontotherium, Proplatyarthrus, Haplomastodon, Notiomastodon, Antifer, Cladosictis, Aulophyseter, Eulamaops, Lestodon, Stirtonia, Cyonasua, Eumegamys, Homunculus Patagonicus, Canis Nehringi, Nothrotherium. Excerpt: Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths, in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. Their most recent survivors lived in the Antilles, where it has been proposed they may have survived until 1550 CE; however, the youngest AMS radiocarbon date reported is 4190 BP, calibrated to c. 4700 BP for Megalocnus of Cuba. They had been extinct on the mainland of North and South America for 10,000 years or more. The term "ground sloth" is used as a reference for all extinct sloths because of the large size of the earliest forms discovered, as opposed to the extant "tree sloths." However, this is an historical convention and does not imply that all extinct sloths were strictly terrestrial in nature. The bulk of ground sloth evolution took place during the mid to late Tertiary of South America while the continent was isolated. At their earliest appearance in the fossil record, the ground sloths are already distinct at the family level. The presence of intervening islands between the American continents in the Miocene allowed a dispersal of forms into North America. A number of mid- to small-sized forms are believed to have previously dispersed... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=276544 |
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By Richard Owen
General Books LLC
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Publisher: London Williams and Norgate Publication date: 1861 Subjects: Sloths, Fossil Notes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. |
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Books LLC
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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Megatherium, Mylodon, Ground Sloth, Megalonyx Jeffersonii, Mylodontidae, Paramylodon, Megalonyx, Megatheriidae, Eremotherium, Scelidotheriidae, Orophodontidae, Thalassocnus, Megalocnus, Acratocnus, Scelidotherium, Neocnus, Glossotherium, Hapalops, Promegatherium, Nothropus, Thinobadistes, Octodontotherium, Proplatyarthrus, Catonyx, Imagocnus, Orophodon, Octomylodon, Prepotherium, Lestodon, Chubutherium, Pseudoglyptodon, Habanocnus, Nothrotherium. Excerpt: Acratocnus Fossil range: Pleistocene to Holocene Acratocnus is an extinct genus of ground sloth found in Cuba , Hispaniola and Puerto Rico . Classification Like all of the Antillean sloths , Acratocnus is a member of the family Megalonychidae, whose sole surviving genus is Choloepus , representing the two-toed tree sloths. Location The species of Acratocnus were found on the islands of Puerto Rico, Cuba and Hispanola , where they inhabited the montane forests of the highlands. The Puerto Rican ground sloth, Acratocnus odontrigonus is known from several poorly documented cave excavations in northwestern Puerto Rico. The various species are regarded as being semi-arboreal because of their (relatively speaking) small size and their large hooked claws. Size The various species of Acratocnus ranged in weight from 50 to 150 lbs, and were thus much larger than living tree sloths (genera Choloepus and Bradypus ), which do not exceed 20 lbs. Extinction As with many sloth fossils, these species of sloth have not been radiometrically dated. It is suggested that the Puerto Rican and Hispanolan Acratocnus species survived into the late Pleistocene but disappeared by the mid-Holocene . The related Cuban ground sloth, Megalocnus rodens , survived until at least c. 6600 BP , and the latest survival reported for any of the Antillean sloths is ... |
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Books LLC
Paperback (90 pages)
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Kapitel: Eurotamandua Joresi, Megalonyx, Megalonychidae, Mylodon, Megatherium, Bradypus Pygmaeus, Glossotherium, Choloepus Didactylus, Choloepus Hoffmanni, Bradypodidae, Myrmecophaga Tridactyla, Bradypus Tridactylus, Bradypus Variegatus, Cyclopes Didactylus, Bradypus Torquatus, Myrmecophagidae, Folivora. Aus Wikipedia. Nicht dargestellt. Auszug: Mylodon is an extinct genus of giant ground sloth that lived in the Patagonia area of South America until roughly 10,000 years ago. Mylodon weighed about 200 kilograms (440 lb) and stood up to 3 m (10 ft) tall when raised up on its hind legs. Preserved dung has shown it was a herbivore. It had very thick hide and had osteoderms within its skin for added armor. Because of this armor and its own long and sharp claws, it's unlikely Mylodon had any natural enemies other than humans, who would have still found the skin difficult to pierce with stone projectile points. Mylodon's close relatives include the giant ground sloths of the genera Glossotherium and Paramylodon. The latter genus has often been confused with Glossotherium but Paramylodon is a distinct genus that was restricted to the Pleistocene of North America. Glossotherium also shares a long history of taxonomic confusion with Mylodon, and currently the only recognized species is Mylodon darwinii. At one time, the elephant-sized Megatherium was thought to be closely related, but is recognized as belonging to a separate family (Megatheriidae). At several sites preserved hide and dung have been discovered, and are in such a state of conservation that the people who first discovered them believed they belonged to a living animal instead of an extinct species. Mylodon was named by Richard Owen on the basis of a nearly complete lower jaw with teeth, which was found by Charles Darwin in a consolidated gravel cliff at Bahia Blanca, during the survey expedition of HMS Beagle. Well preserved samples of Mylodon remains have been discovered...http://booksllc.net/?l=de |
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By L. Kraglievich
Imprenta El Siglo Ilustrado
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