[CommieX]

I've heard stories about sightings of giant ground sloths in South America. Although for the most part they went extint 5,000-10,00yrs ago, some paleontologists believe they might have been around as recently as 1550AD in Cuba and Central America. Does anyone know about these stories, or perhaps has a pic?

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[isis-999]

Man it would be hard to hid something that big and ugly, but it is a large jungle who knows

[CommieX]

There were smaller species, nothotherium was only the size of a black lab/chow mix!

[Conspiracy]

it could still be alive in the deep jungles of the amazon since much of south america is still yet unexplored

[N-droe]

I give it a good chance of still being out there. Okapi wasn't discovered untill somewhere halfway the last century and that's quite a big animal too. Mountaingorilla's were able to elude people for a long time too. So size doesn't automatically mean a big chance of discovery.

There are a lot of reports of animals, which once lived in both americas but died out at the end of the last ice age, still roaming around in south-america. The giant ground sloth is the most famous of those, but also reports about saber toothed tigers are quite common (a specimen was shot once, but officials claimed it was a mutated jaguar).

The amazon rainforest is, like Conspiracy said, a badly explored earea. So there are places enough for a gian ground sloth or any other animal to live undetected. And a part of me would like it to remain undetected... but then again the cryptozoologist part doesn't

[Alfaman]

There are probably countless numbers of unknown species in the worlds jungles. There was a programme on the BBC a few week ago about the Amazon, while they were there they found loads of animals that were completely new to science and they were only there about a month.

[Pilgrim Shadow]

The Giant Ground Sloth--
Megatherium roamed North America until about 11,000 years ago. It was the size of an elephant, in fact, it is estimated to have grown as long as 20 feet. Must have been a spectacular sight when it raised itself up on its hindlegs to graze from trees!

There's a lot of talk about the paleoindians killing them all off because they were big, easy, meaty targets. It could have just been a change in climate and vegetation. I even heard one crackpot theory about a change in the Earth's gravity making in impossible for an animal so large to manage its tree grazing habits!

A few scientists believe the animal might have been carnivorous, or at least ominivorous, because of its great claws and teeth.
There has been speculation of Megatherium surviving until just a few hundred years ago because of intact remains, including fur, found in certain caves.

I would be shocked if a creature so massive survived undetected, even in the remote jungles of South America.
http://www.absolutea...Megatherium.htm

[N-droe]

As big as what type of Elephant? An African or Asian? A Bush-, Savanna- or Pygmy-elephant? That makes a lot of difference.

New animals are discovered almost every day. Most of them are insects and don't speak much to the imagination. But occasionally there's a big one. And if there's a place where it can hide, it's in the rainforest mountains of the Amazon.
As I said, it wouldn't surprise me if it was still hanging around there.

[Byuu94]

There was a cave in Patagonia where they found droppings and areas that were setup as stables.

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The giant ground sloth was an enormous creature with an appearance similar to that of an oversized hamster. In all likelihood, it fed on leaves found on the lower branches of trees and bushes. The largest of these ground sloths was Megatherium, which grew to the size of a modern elephant. Like other giant creatures that disappeared thousands of years ago, Megatherium, and its smaller sloth cousin, Mylodon, are extinct. Only the small tree sloth survives today . . . or so scientists believe.

In the 1890's an Argentinean explorer, geographer and adventurer, Ramon Lista, was hunting in a portion of his country, known as Patagonia, when a large, unknown creature covered with long hair trotted past his party. To Lista, the creature looked like a gigantic armadillo. The party shot at the beast, but the bullets seemed to have no effect.

Professor Florentino Ameghino, a paleontologist in Argentina, heard the Lista story and began to wonder if the strange beast was a giant sloth that had somehow survived till the present day. He might not have put much stock in the Lista story if it had not been for the legends he had collected from natives in the Patagonia region about hunting such a large creature in ancient times.

The animal in the stories was nocturnal, and slept during the day in burrows it dug with its large claws. The natives also found it difficult to get their arrows to penetrate the animal's skin.

Ameghino, furthermore, had a piece of physical evidence: A small section of apparently fresh hide found by a rancher named Eberhardt on his property in a cave in 1895. The hide was studded with small, hard, calcium nodules and would have been impervious to the teeth of many predators. It seemed likely that it would have also resisted native arrows, along with Lista's bullets.

So sure was Ameghino this was the creature Lista had seen, he decided to name it after him: Nemoylodon listai, or "Lista's new Mylodon."

Expeditions to Eberhardt's cave and other caves soon recovered additional pieces of hide. With the development of the debated Carbon-14 dating method in the twentieth century, the age of the Mylodon remains in the Eberhardt's cave was apparantly settled. In short, the skin was estimated to be roughly 5,000 years old. Conditions in the caves may have preserved the skin, making it look fresh to the eye and fooling Ameghino.

No additional evidence has turned up that the giant sloth survives today. S.C.O.P.E, however, wishes to make history, and we support and congratulate their efforts.
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Found that Here.

[MadEyePixie]

I remember a few years ago before school I was watching an expedition to find a giant ground sloth that was lurking around somewhere in a South American rainforest. They caught some really freaky sounds on tape, but not any giant ground sloths.

[Byuu94]

giant ground sloths

That is pronounced "throat worbbler mangrove."

[Talon]

anything could be hiding in the rainforests

[Pilgrim Shadow]

As big as what type of Elephant? An African or Asian? A Bush-, Savanna- or Pygmy-elephant? That makes a lot of difference.

"What is the wingbeat of an unladen Swallow?"
"African or European?"
"I don't know tha...AAAAAHHHHHH!"


The largest Megatherium is estimated to have reached 20 feet, thus it was longer than an elephant, but probably not more massive. As for what type of Elephant, jeez, I don't know. Probably NOT a pygmy-elephant.

In order for the Megatherium to have survived the past eleven thousand years it would need to maintain a sizable population. That's just how it works in the animal kingdom. For several thousand Megatheria to be out and about in the jungle without humans knowing about them seems absurd.

That is pronounced "throat worbbler mangrove." 

It's spelt "Raymond Luxury Yacht," but it's pronounced "throat warbler mangrove"

You're a very silly person, and I'm not going to inverview you.

This post has been edited by Pilgrim Shadow: 01 July 2005 - 01:19 AM

[MadEyePixie]

giant ground sloths

That is pronounced "throat worbbler mangrove."

You're a very silly person, and I'm not going to inverview you.

Ah, anti-semitism!

[Orion437]

I´ve heard of this history long ago, its said that the Mylodon is ferocius and very dangerous to the natives in our Patagonia (the onas & tehuelches tribes, they know it from centuries).
It´s strangely relationed with "Nahuelito" a monster, some kind of Nessie cousin, that lives in a lake in the Patagonia.Maybe they share the habitat, if they are real,of course.
I´ve been in that lake (Nahuel Huapi), its a tourist location, of course, it seems like it hasn´t changed for countless millenia.
Sorry for my english.