Day Ten: Giant Ground Sloth!

Megafauna of the Day: Giant Ground Sloth. They were vegetarian, but would still have been formidable to encounter. They were called Megatherium, and they could be twenty feet in length and weigh up to four tons. They lived until approximately 10,000 ago, and perhaps went extinct from human hunting. Jefferson was given a gift of giant sloth bones that he first mistook for a giant lion. Monticello has an interesting article on Jefferson's involvement with the bones: http://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/megalonyx-jeffersonii-fossils