Extinct sloth remains found in Peru

[Owlscrying]

Lima - Workers in Peru stumbled upon the remains of a megathere, an extinct elephant-sized ground sloth that roamed the American continent in the Pleistocene epoch.

The rare find occurred Friday, as workers were digging a well in the village of Huayllaspanca east of Lima.

The skeleton is only the second of a Megatherium americanum ever found in Peru.

Herbivores that weighed about as much as an elephant, megatheres grew as tall as six metres.

The bones, found in Huayllaspanca, include the jaw, pelvis, and ribs.

go

[Sporkling]

are sloths that big?

[00000000000000000000000000]

are sloths that big?

No, but they used to be.

That's where the whole "extinct" part of the thread title comes into play.

[AmazingAtheist]

Holy crap .. Thats massive.

[Mekorig]

A nice photo showing the size of this extinct animals.

[Chauncy]

are sloths that big?

No, but they used to be.

That's where the whole "extinct" part of the thread title comes into play.

Its difficult for a large body with a slow metabolism to survive such as the Megatherium ..........the little sloths will be soon extinct aswell.... for this very reason.

Edited November 15, 2007 by Chauncy

[Primeval]

SLOTHS!!! WE SLEEP 18 BUT WE ALWAYS PARTY TWENTY FOOO!!!! SLOTHS! SLOTHS! SLOTHS!

[Chauncy]

SLOTHS!!! WE SLEEP 18 BUT WE ALWAYS PARTY TWENTY FOOO!!!! SLOTHS! SLOTHS! SLOTHS!

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