Humongous cave bears, saber-toothed tigers, and massive-antlered Irish elk roam the grasslands and forests of South America, but the biggest of all is the Megatherium, an elephant-sized ground sloth. Could a population of giant ground sloths have managed to survive, deep in the dark jungles of South America, undiscovered by modern science for thousands of years? These were highly specialised animals reaching up to the size of sheep that would have hung from tree branches and slowly made their way through the dry forest canopies. Taken from Joe Rogan Experience #1240 w/Forrest Galante: https://youtu.be/OT0ZIq-yWEM Some believe it may actually be a species of giant ground sloth, once thought extinct but now living in the depths of the forest. Despite local sightings and stories, there is little hard evidence, and the forests of South America don't give up their secrets easily. If mapinguari are really giant ground sloths, that would explain the simmilarities between their supposed calls and a 3-toed sloth. Fresh skin, dung and footprints were discovered in a cave in the Patagonian region of Argentina in 1895. thank you cryptid i have been intersted in this animal for a while and all i can say is the only thing that it could be is a ground sloth. Salvador, a life-size replica of the extinct Giant Ground Sloth, greets visitors entering the Sloth Sanctuary. Various other smaller species belonging to the subgenus Pseudomegatherium are known from the Andes. Like the Mapinguari, ground sloths were big, smelly, and ferocious. Press J to jump to the feed. That's a big theory regarding many legendary creatures. Further, the Megatherium wasn’t much of a picky eater. Humans Drove Giant Sloths to Extinction. Not to worry though. But, as legendary creatures go, the Mapinguari is surely one of the most bizarre. According to Bernard Heuvelmans, after the fossils had been studied and revealed as a giant sloth, the King of Spain instructed explorers to capture a live Megatheriumfor him. Giant Sloths Once Ruled the Americas Ground sloths were vegetarians, so if you’re wandering around the jungles of Brazil you probably have nothing to fear, unless you’re dressed like a plant. Mel Carriere from San Diego California on May 18, 2013: Who knows what lurks in the depths of the jungle? Some researchers have an interesting theory about the Mapinguari. With interests in science and nature, I explores topics from a unique and sometimes controversial perspective. Is the Mapinguari really a giant ground sloth? Megatherium is an extinct genus of ground sloths endemic to South America that lived from the Early Pliocene through the end of the Pleistocene. Well, if they were still alive, they would live in forests or bushy areas found in North and South America. These giant ground sloths were thought to have survived in more remote areas for at least another 5,000 years following this extinction, though. Meet The Megatherium: The Adorable 13-Foot Sloth That Ruled The Prehistoric Amazon. Though he did not immediately recognize it, he deemed it worth further study and sent it back to his base of study at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (The Spanish National Museum of Natural History) in Madrid, Spain. Full grown, individual creatures likely weighed upwards of four tons — the weight of the average male elephant — making it the largest land mammal second only to the wooly mammoth. Giant ground sloths preferred forests along rivers or lakes, but they also lived during the Pleistocene period, also known as the Great Ice Age. There is reason to believe indians hunted them. The Irish elk and saber-toothed tiger went extinct during this time as well as mammoths within the confines of continents, as some survived for several thousand more years in remote island areas. Stomach-mouth aside, the description of the mapinguari is actually quite similar to descriptions of the Megatherium, and indeed several drawings of the mapinguari are hard to discern from those of the Megatherium. Standing over nine feet tall, with nasty claws, backward-facing feet, and an extra mouth on its belly, the terrible beast would surely send you running for the hills if it didn’t get hold of you first. It was then that an archaeologist named Manuel Torres discovered a rare fossil specimen on the banks of the Luján River in eastern Argentina. The Giant Ground Sloth, or Megatherium (Giant Beast) was an omnivorous relative of the modern-day sloth that lived in Pliocene - Pleistocene South America. The gigantic herbivores didn’t have to compete with smaller mammals for food as they had the advantage of height and procuring food from distances that smaller mammals simply couldn’t. The Megatherium lived in large groups, though individual fossils have been found in isolated locations such as caves. Some cryptozoologists believe Bigfoot is the evolved remnants from a massive 10-foot ape species called Gigantopithecus. No way I could have done better! This is a six-foot fish that was believed to have gone extinct some sixty-five million years ago, only to be rediscovered back in the 1930s. Mainstream scientists and researchers say this creepy cryptid probably isn’t real, of course. For these … im here justtocomment on August 26, 2020: i live in brazil and here there are not that many sightings but still are very overlooked this idea i tink the odds are high but hey platypus and pandas were too and this helped me do my homework i have an scientific name idea genus neomylodon species n.mapinguari. Only the small tree sloth survives today. The new data offer definitive evidence for hunting and butchering of Megatherium americanum (giant ground sloth) at 12,600 cal years BP and … Asked by Wiki User. Around 8 million years ago, they migrated into North America, according to the San Diego Natural History Museum. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. The giant ground sloth still living in the form of the Mapinguari might seem like a stretch, but a closer look shows that many of the characteristics certain species of ground sloth exhibit are present in descriptions of the Mapinguari. This gives up pause to wonder what else might be out there, just awaiting rediscovery. And on top of that, they say that the Giant Ground Sloths didn't go extinct due to climate change, but do to overhunting by humans. The original specimen found by Manuel Torres on display in Madrid. I appreciate the kind words. It probably walked most of its life on four legs, though it is believed that it could stand on its hind legs in order to reach treetops and high foliage to feed its herbivorous diet. Due to the lack of predators – they outweighed (and could likely kill) saber-toothed cats and other small carnivores – they lived a quiet and probably diurnal lifestyle. The Coelacanth is the best-known example of a Lazarus Taxon. Evidence has been found suggesting Giant Sloth's survival into modern times. However, rumors of giant sloths living deep in the jungles of South America have emerged. One of the skeletons, found in a lava tube (cave) at Aden Crater, adjacent to Kilbourne Hole, New Mexico, still had skin and hair preserved, and is now at the Yale Peabody Museum. A 50-year-old sloth in a German zoo world has slept her way into the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest known sloth alive. Is the Mapinguari really a giant ground sloth? With so much unexplored, Megatherium could still be out there. ! Also, the species that are still around didn't threaten humans in any way, so we didn't hunt them into extinction. The Mapinguari isn't quite as famous as Bigfoot, but would be just as amazing of a find. Initially, he believed that the Megatherium used its claws to climb trees as modern-day sloths did. No such creature could actually exist, could it? It’s hard to imagine, but jungles do not give up their secrets easily. cryptid (author) from USA on February 08, 2013: Great point Jmills. Whatever the reasons for their disappearance, scientists have long believed that the elephant-sized sloths have been out of commission for at least 4,000 years. These giant ground sloths were thought to have survived in more remote areas for at least another 5,000 years following this extinction, though. Great Ground Sloths lived in the grasslands, and also lived in large groups. The discovery of a new animal, especially one this bizarre, would send researchers into the jungle of South America in droves, and open doors in many fields. Scientists are still not entirely sure what accounts for this mass extinction as it does occur simultaneously with glacial-interglacial climate change. Ground sloths refers to a group of extinct sloths. Great article btw bro. These massive animals walked on all fours, but when standing on their hind legs they were over three meters tall. Thet give off a fowl stench when they mark their territories. according to eye witnesses mapinguari is a ground sloth and every eye witnesses reports the claws, eyes,fur are very similar to the animal. Three families of sloths are known, and only two genuses, both of them tree dwellers, are known to have survived to the present day, Dr. Oren said. cryptid (author) from USA on May 20, 2013: Thanks for the kind words Diana and Mel! It’s thought to be a local legend and superstition, nothing more. It was likely one of the slowest creatures in its environment. The shaggy, ground-dwelling sloths that inhabited almost the entire span of the New World didn’t all topple over at once. By Betsy Mason Aug. 1, 2005 , … Before long, the fossil caught the eye of esteemed French paleontologist Georges Cuvier. Wikimedia CommonsAn artist’s rendering of a now-extinct Megatherium. Amazing article! After learning about Megatherium, check out these terrifying prehistoric creatures who weren’t dinosaurs. 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