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Eremotherium
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Eremotherium

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Eremotherium (from Greek for "steppe" or "desert" "beast": ἔρημος "steppe or desert" and θηρίον "beast") is an extinct genus of giant ground sloth in the family Megatheriidae. Eremotherium lived in southern North America, Central America, and northern South America. It was one of the largest sloths, with a body size comparable to elephants, weighing around and measuring about long, slightly larger than its close relative Megatherium.

Wikidata facts

Parent taxon
Megatheriidae
Mass
3
Image
WLA hmns Giant ground sloth 2.jpg
Length
6
Show 7 more facts
location of discovery
Pedra Preta
Commons category
Eremotherium
taxon name
Eremotherium
taxon rank
genus
start time
4900000-00
end time
11000-00-0
taxon common name
paresseux terrestre géant
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~32 min read

Encyclopedic overview

15 sections
Contents
  • History and naming
  • Classification
  • Description
  • Size
  • Skull
  • Postcrania
  • Fossil distribution
  • Palaeobiology
  • Locomotion
  • Thermoregulation
  • Social behaviour
  • Diet
  • Palaeopathologies
  • Relationship with humans and extinction
  • References

Eremotherium (from Greek for "steppe" or "desert" "beast": ἔρημος "steppe or desert" and θηρίον "beast") is an extinct genus of giant ground sloth in the family Megatheriidae. Eremotherium lived in southern North America, Central America, and northern South America. It was one of the largest sloths, with a body size comparable to elephants, weighing around and measuring about long, slightly larger than its close relative Megatherium.

Originating during the Pliocene, Eremotherium migrated northwards into North America as part of the Great American Interchange of fauna between North and South America following the emergence of the Isthmus of Panama during the late Pliocene. Finds of Eremotherium are common and widespread, with fossils being found as far north as South Carolina (with a single record also reported from New Jersey) in the United States and as far south as Rio Grande Do Sul in southern Brazil, and many complete skeletons have been unearthed.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Eremotherium” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (6)