4/6/2023 0 Comments Sloth plushTheir teeth in side view show interlocking V-shaped biting surfaces, although they are nearly square in cross-section and exhibit bilophodonty. americanum exhibit extreme hypsodonty, indicative of its gritty, fibrous diet. Instead of enamel, the tooth displays a layer of cementum, ortho dentine and modified orthodentine, creating a soft, easily abraded surface. Like other sloths, Megatherium lacked the enamel, deciduous dentition and dental cusp patterns of other mammals. Megatheres displayed deeper jaws than other sloths. Analysis of wear and the biomechanics of the chewing muscles suggests that they chewed vertically. In Megatherium, the stylohyal and epihyal bones (parts of the hyoid bone which supports the tongue and is located in the throat) were fused together, and the apparatus lies farther upwards the throat, which, together with the elongated, steeply inclined mandibular symphysis, indicates a relatively shorter geniohyoid muscle and thus more limited capacity for tongue protrusion. While some evidence suggests the animal could use its tongue to differentiate and select its foliage, the lips probably had a more important role in this. Megatherium also possessed the narrowest muzzle of all ground sloths from the Pleistocene, possibly meaning it was a very selective eater, able to carefully pick and choose which leaves and twigs to consume. Megatherium had a narrow, cone-shaped mouth and prehensile lips that were probably used to select particular plants and fruits. One study has proposed that Megatherium was mostly hairless, like modern elephants, because its large size and small surface-area-to-volume ratio would have made it susceptible to overheating. Biomechanical analysis also suggests it had adaptations to bipedalism. Although it was primarily a quadruped, its trackways show that it was capable of bipedal locomotion. This sloth, like a modern anteater, walked on the sides of its feet because its claws prevented it from putting them flat on the ground. Rising on its powerful hind legs and using its tail to form a tripod, Megatherium could support its massive body weight while using the curved claws on its long forelegs to pull down branches with the choicest leaves. Its large size enabled it to feed at heights unreachable by other contemporary herbivores. Megatherium had a robust skeleton with a large pelvic girdle and a broad muscular tail. Megatherium species were members of the abundant Pleistocene megafauna, large mammals that lived during the Pleistocene epoch. It was one of the largest ground sloths, about as big as modern Asian elephants. Megatherium americanum was one of the largest animals in its habitat, weighing up to 4 t (8,800 lb), with a shoulder height of 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in) and length of 6 m (20 ft) from head to tail. Reconstruction of Megatherium with hair (top) and without (bottom). americanum was slaughtered and butchered is known, suggesting that hunting could have caused its extinction. The extinction coincides with the settlement of the Americas, and a kill site where a M. Megatherium became extinct around 12,000 years ago during the Quaternary extinction event, which also claimed most other large mammals in the New World. The holotype specimen was then shipped to Spain the following year wherein it caught the attention of the paleontologist Georges Cuvier, who was the first to determine, by means of comparative anatomy, that Megatherium was a sloth. Megatherium was first discovered in 1788 on the bank of the Luján River in Argentina. americanum in size, such as large proboscideans (e.g., elephants) and the giant rhinoceros Paraceratherium. Only a few other land mammals equaled or exceeded M. americanum, which was native to tropical South America, Central America and North America as far north as the southern United States. Megatherium is part of the sloth family Megatheriidae, which also includes the similarly giant Eremotherium, comparable in size to M. Various other smaller species belonging to the subgenus Pseudomegatherium are known from the Andes. americanum, sometimes called the giant ground sloth, or the megathere, native to the Pampas through southern Bolivia during the Pleistocene. It is best known for the elephant-sized type species M. Megatherium ( / m ɛ ɡ ə ˈ θ ɪər i ə m/ meg-ə- THEER-ee-əm from Greek méga ( μέγα) 'great' + theríon ( θηρίον) 'beast') is an extinct genus of ground sloths endemic to South America that lived from the Early Pliocene through the end of the Pleistocene. Map showing the distribution of all Megatherium species in red, inferred from fossil finds
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