Eremotherium laurillardi (giant ground sloth) Description Giant ground sloth
Eremotherium laurillardi (formerly mirabile)
(Pleistocene, Daytona Beach, Florida)
HMNS R16
Giant ground sloths, relatives of the living South American tree sloths, lived across much of North America. The giant sloths disappeared along with the mammoths, mastodons, and many other large animals at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch.
One theory for this mass extinction blames a changing climate, specifically a shift to a warmer average temperature but with colder winters and warmer summers, which may have taken a toll on newly born animals.
Eremotherium was probably a browser and grazer, perhaps using its claws to dig up roots and tubers during dry spells.
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WLA_hmns_Giant_ground_sloth_2.jpg
Eremotherium is an extinct genus of ground sloth of the family Megatheriidae, endemic to North America and South America during the Pleistocene epoch. It lived from 4.9 mya—11,000 years ago existing (as a genus) for approximately 4.889 million years. E. rusconi reached a length up to 6 m and a weight of more than 3 tonnes. Superorder: Xenarthra, Order: Pilosa, Family: Megatheriidae, Subfamily: Megatherinae, Genus: Eremotherium
Species:
Eremotherium laurillardi Lund 1842
Eremotherium eomigrans De Iullis & Cartelle 1999
Eremotherium rusconi (Schaub 1935)