The Giant Sloth That Once Lived: Megatherium

Fossils of Megatherium were first discovered in Argentina in 1788 by archaeologist Manuel Torres. Then, biologist Charles Darwin, on a voyage in 1830 on the ship HMS Beagle (where Darwin made the voyages that formed the basis of his theory of evolution) in 1830, this animal was discovered. to fossils came across and thus the authenticity of megatherium was confirmed.

This is live 4 tons It is an animal that weighs 6 meters and lived in South America. In fact, one of the details that makes him interesting is that he is extremely lazy it is a living thing. So what kind of animal is megatherium exactly?

This animal is also called “the gigantic beast from America.”

Megatherium, who lived on earth after the dinosaurs largest land creature category. This animal had a fairly solid skeletal structure. Their hind legs are short, but the bone structure in their legs is quite strong. Scientists say that the strength of this creature’s lower body also provides a support for its upper body.

The upper body of this animal is also very robust and at the same time flexible. Because its arms are also long and strong, this animal can lower the leaves of trees to its mouth level. Inspired by generally found fossils, a megatherium it can be said that the painters depicted it as a large and bushy animal standing on its feet.

Although he is often drawn like this in paintings, archaeologists say he appears to be standing on all fours while walking long distances or resting. Megatherium already has big claws on the hands and feet, and it’s not straight either, crouching down It shows you walking.

sloth

Most people might expect such a large animal to show power, but on the contrary, it does not even have the energy to get up. It can even be considered the slowest animal in the ecosystem. Also, by scientists sloths We can say that he is considered to be his ancestor. Sloths still alive today are generally small mammals, less than 1 meter in length and weighing an average of 5 kilograms.

Koala

They spend most of their time in trees, for example the koala is an example. They mainly live in South and Central America. When you look at Megatherium, these sloths 10 times You can see how big it is.

So what did this giant animal eat and drink?

Researchers state that this creature does not even compete for food with other smaller animals. Because, as we just said, its arms are very long, so it can easily reach the trees and meet its food needs in this way. However, its ability to reach high does not mean that it feeds only on trees. For example, he can easily fill his stomach with ground plants. According to experts, he with claws It is an animal that can easily chew plants with its strong teeth after scraping the roots of plants.

What we have told so far shows that this animal feeds on grass, which is what experts think. However, it is still a controversial issue in the scientific world whether he ate meat or not. This animal, which is normally considered a carnivore and depicted as a scavenger, herbivorous It may not make sense to the experts that it could be.

Some theorists argue that this animal did not prey on other creatures, but that it was somewhere. a dead animal He claims that he ate it when he saw it, while others say that he jumped on other animals and hunted them with his claws.

But we would like to point out to you that none of these claims have been proven. In fact, when examining the animal’s fossils, we can say that chemical analyzes of the teeth definitively proved that it was a herbivore. Megatherium BC. At 8,000, it is among the extinct species during the period when many species became extinct. Scientists believe that the reason for the extinction of these creatures is by humans. their hunting thinks it might.

Actual fossils on display at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias in Madrid)

The reason experts think this is because fossils it had cuts on it that were supposed to be caused by the attack. In addition, their disappearance period also corresponds to the Holocene period, the ascension period of humanity. Experts may have thought so for this reason. However, as we mentioned above, many living things were already extinct in that period.

The place where the fossils of this animal are exhibited today is in Madrid It is the Museo Nacional de Ciencias. This place has been home to fossils since it was first found. Well, have you ever heard of Megatherium before? Feel free to share your thoughts about this interesting animal with us in the comments.