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.
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