She was the size of an elephant and didn’t live hanging from trees, but walked on the ground. the species megatherium americanum, whose name means “great beast of America”, was one of the largest land mammals that ever lived and also the largest giant sloth (a type of animal that no longer exists). It is closely related to today’s sloths and anteaters, having appeared at the beginning of the Miocene period, 17 million years ago, and disappeared at the end of the Pleistocene. Due to its size, it was able to reach high places and never ran out of food. Among its most striking characteristics is the way it supported its feet on the ground, by the sides, something that does not occur with any current mammal species.
– (Márcio L. Castro/)
– (Márcio L. Castro/)
DIET
O megatherium it was herbivorous and, due to its size, it easily reached from undergrowth to tree branches. That way, he never had a shortage of food and, probably because of this, the species was able to spread from South America to North America in the Pleiocene. There is no confirmation, but scholars suggest that the animal may have had a long, prehensile tongue, like an anteater.
LEGS AND PELVIS
The tibia and fibula were fused. This made the legs wider, which may be related to the amount of weight they had to carry. The pelvic bone was wide and the tail short. These features, added to the strong leg bones, indicate that the lower body served as a seat to rest the torso. The tail provided stability when the animal stood on two legs.
FEET
O megatherium he needed to lean on the sides of his feet, not the soles, because the long nails prevented his lower legs from being able to stay flat on the ground. He was primarily quadrupedal, but could stand on two legs and even walk that way if he wanted to. Researchers believe that the megatherium lived in flocks, but there is a possibility that it lived alone in caves
– (Márcio L. Castro/)
HANDS
A reproduction of a fossil shown above shows that although the sloth had five digits, one digit had become vestigial through evolution and another had no claws.
– (Márcio L. Castro/)
UPPER LIP
A very characteristic feature of the megatherium it’s just that her upper lip was U-shaped and prehensile. This allowed him to be a selective eater, manipulating the vegetables and choosing specific parts to eat. The teeth were adapted for slicing rather than grinding, suggesting that it did not eat hard or fibrous vegetables.
– (Márcio L. Castro/)
OMNIVOROUS?
There are those who suggest that the megatherium could have a complementary carnivore diet, feeding on carcasses. There are fossils of glyptodon which show that the animals were killed on their backs. Of the fauna of the time, only the megatherium would be big enough to turn into a glyptodon. But the hypothesis that Megatherium could also be carnivorous is still very disputed.
– (Márcio L. Castro/)
SOURCES Books Megafauna: Giant Beasts of Pleistocene South America (various authors) and Mammalian Evolutionary Morphology: A Tribute to Frederick S. Szalay, by Eric J. Sargis and Marian Dagosto; articles The ground sloth Megatherium americanum: Skull shape, bite forces, and dietby M. Susana Bargo, Muzzle of South American Pleistocene ground sloths (Xenarthra, Tardigrada)by M. Susana Bargo, Néstor Toledo and Sergio F. Vizcaíno