9 Foot Tall, 600 Pound Ground Sloth Skeleton
Meet Molasses!
Molasses is the name chosen for this gorgeous #Nothrotheriops “near slothful beast” shastaensis “from Shasta” County, California, where it was first found.
This 9’ tall, 600 lb ground #sloth roamed the American southwest from 2.5 mya to around 10,000 years ago. Alas, another victim of the Ice Age ending. I am certain human colonization didn’t help them out.
This very complete specimen was found in a cave near Devil Peak, Nevada. We know them from fur, a tendon (!), and complete skeletons. I wish I could see their unique gait on a photo safari to the peaks and caves of the Southwest. Maybe once they bring back a few extinct animals this one can come back?
Sloths were able to go tripodal, using their long arms and likely long tongue to get to leaves otherwise out of reach. As a #xenarthran it had some of the most “alien” vertebrae for a mammal, with a giant hole in them that still boggles my mind.
#Nothrotheriops may have been an important seed-disperser for the Joshua tree, that most wondrous of Southwestern plants that has quite a restricted range now, because dung from this animal has been found laden with Joshua tree seeds. If so, the loss of this beautiful sloth likely impacted the Joshua tree, though if it was climate change that took down the #sloth then the plant was likely heavily impacted, too.
#Sloths today are small, adorable, tree dwellers with bizarre teeth (seriously, check an xray!) and cervical vertebral counts that violate a cardinal rule of being a mammal (they don’t have 7!). Yet their biped cousins weighed as much as elephants with reaches rivaling those of giraffe tongues. Some were even armored. Imagine the first time a spear bounced off :-).
Even though they were likely not speed demons I bet they moved faster than one would think, something I learned while visiting the incredible @sonomaslothhouse. I can’t wait to see the new facility!
This specimen is on display at the neat Las Vegas Natural History Museum in Nevada. A great place to spend a few hours between one-armed bandit pulls, rolling of the dice, and sight-seeing.
(Apologies re audio)
#FossilCrates