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In addition to the Greater Antillean sloths, some other pilosans are still extant on islands close to the Central and South American mainland. This includes several anteaters and a member of the other extant sloth family, that of the three-toed sloths , restricted to a small island in Panama. [ 10 ]
Ground sloths disappeared from both North and South America shortly after the appearance of humans about 11,000 years ago. Evidence suggests human hunting contributed to the extinction of the American megafauna. Ground sloth remains found in both North and South America indicate that they were killed, cooked, and eaten by humans. [4]
The most prominent members of the group are the South American genus Thalassocnus, known for being aquatic, and Nothrotheriops from North America. The last ground sloths in North America belonging to Nothrotheriops died so recently that their subfossil dung has remained undisturbed in some caves.
Opossums probably diverged from the basic South American marsupials in the late Cretaceous or early Paleocene. They are small to medium-sized marsupials, about the size of a large house cat, with a long snout and prehensile tail. Family: Didelphidae (American opossums) Subfamily: Caluromyinae. Genus: Caluromys. Derby's woolly opossum, Caluromys ...
Central America and northern South America: Size: 42–80 cm (17–31 in) long, plus 2–9 cm (1–4 in) tail [5] Habitat: Forest [6] Diet: Leaves, flowers, and fruit of Cecropia trees [7] LC Unknown [6] Maned sloth. B. torquatus Illiger, 1811: Eastern South America: Size: 45–50 cm (18–20 in) long, plus 4–5 cm (2 in) tail [8] Habitat ...
South America's considerable cervid diversity belies their relatively recent arrival. The presence of camelids in South America but not North America today is ironic, given that they have a 45-million-year-long history in the latter continent (where they originated), and only a 3-million-year history in the former. Family: Tayassuidae (peccaries)
There are 31 living species: the anteaters, tree sloths, and armadillos. [1] Extinct xenarthrans include the glyptodonts, pampatheres and ground sloths. Xenarthrans originated in South America during the late Paleocene about 60 million years ago. [2]
The presence of these animals in Central America and their former presence in North America is a result of the Great American Interchange. A number of sloths were also formerly present on the Antilles, which they reached from South America by some combination of rafting or floating with the prevailing currents.