Ancient species of giant sloth discovered in Mexico

August 17, 2017

A Mexican National Institute of Anthropology image of scientists say is the skull of a newly discovered species and genus of giant sloth that dates between 10647 and 10305 A.C.

Mexican scientists said Wednesday they have discovered the fossilized remains of a previously unknown species of giant sloth that lived 10,000 years ago and died at the bottom of a sinkhole.

The Pleistocene-era remains were found in 2010, but were so deep inside the water-filled sinkhole that researchers were only gradually able to piece together what they were, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said in announcing the find.

Scientists have so far hauled up the skull, jawbone, and a mixed bag of vertebrae, ribs claws and other bones, but the rest of the skeleton remains some 50 meters (165 feet) under water, the INAH said.

Researchers are planning to bring up the rest by next year to continue studying the find—including to estimate how big the animal was.

"They'll be putting the pieces together like a puzzle," INAH spokesman Arturo Mendez told AFP.

The skeleton is nearly complete, leading scientists to believe the sloth "fell into the sinkhole when it was dry or had only a little water at the bottom," the researchers said.

They have named the new species Xibalbaonyx oviceps, and nicknamed it "Pote."

An initial analysis suggests the sloth lived between 10,647 and 10,305 years ago, they said—an era when giant creatures of all kinds roamed the Earth.

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Mummified Poop Reveals Ancient Sloth Ate Mormon Tea and Saltbush

By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | November 1, 2016 07:33am ET 

SALT LAKE CITY — An extinct giant sloth once used a spacious cave not just as a shelter but also as a massive toilet, leaving droppings on the cave floor whenever nature called. Now, scientists have analyzed the sloth's mummified dung and determined what plants the greyhound-size beast ate most frequently, according to new research.

Chemical analyses of the fossilized poop, known as coprolites, revealed that the ancient sloths primarily chowed down on an orange-flowered perennial shrub known as desert globemallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua), a shrub called Mormon tea (Ephedra) and a drought-tolerant plant known as saltbush (Atriplex), said Ryan Haupt, who is leading the investigation while completing his doctorate in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Wyoming.

Scientists have known about the coprolites in southern Nevada's Gypsum Cave since the 1930s. The Shasta ground sloth (Nothrotheriops shastensis) lived in the cave at different points, from about 36,000 to 11,000 years ago, Haupt said.]

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