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 26 ground sloths DHJanzen100688.jpg high resolution
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| But the horse was not the only member of the new world megafauna to disappear 11,500 years ago. We once had a truly impressive zoo, as large and even more diverse than that of Africa at the time of invasion by medieval Europe. The smaller ground sloths - here being two life-sized individuals based on the tar-pickeled remains in the La Brea tar pits - were apparently everywhere (evolutionarily invented in South America, when the Central American connection joined 3 million years ago, ground sloths spread as far north as Canada). With bony plates below their thick fur, presumably to protect against our now-exinct large carnivores, they ate twigs, leaves, branches, fruits, seeds and tubers. | ||
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