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Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. They varied widely in size with the largest, belonging to genera Lestodon, Eremotherium and Megatherium, being around the size of elephants. Ground sloths represent a paraphyletic group, as living tree sloths are thought to have evolved from ground sloth ...
Sloths are a Neotropical group of xenarthran mammals constituting the suborder Folivora, including the extant arboreal tree sloths and extinct terrestrial ground sloths. Noted for their slowness of movement, tree sloths spend most of their lives hanging upside down in the trees of the tropical rainforests of South America and Central America .
Nothrotheriidae is a family of extinct ground sloths that lived from approximately 17.5 mya—10,000 years ago, existing for approximately 7] Previously placed within the tribe Nothrotheriini or subfamily Nothrotheriinae within Megatheriidae, they are now usually placed in their own family, Nothrotheriidae. [8]
Some of the extinct species of sloths were able to tolerate cooler temperatures, but researchers believe this was probably due to thicker fur, larger size, larger muscle mass, and more access to a constant food supply. [18] Their long, coarse fur often appears greenish, due not to pigment, but to algae growing on it.
The Maned three-toed sloth is considered the most endangered of all of the sloth species and they are listed under the Vulnerable (VU) category according to the IUCN Red List. [2] Due to hunting and anthropogenic deforestation consistently occurring, the sloth species was reduced to about 7% of their original habit in the Atlantic Forest.
Here's a cool fact from The Sloth Conservation Foundation: without sloths there wouldn't be any avocados. "The extinct giant ground sloths were some of the only mammals that had digestive systems ...
Glossotherium is an extinct genus of large mylodontid ground sloths of the subfamily Mylodontinae. It represents one of the best-known members of the family, along with Mylodon and Paramylodon . Reconstructed animals were between 3 and 4 metres (9.8 and 13.1 ft) long and possibly weighed up to 1,002.6–1,500 kg.
This can result in either a high rate of fermentation in the gastrointestinal tract and/or a very slow metabolism concluded. The latter is the case with today's sloths. This is due to the long passage time of the food of up to a week through the large, multi-chambered stomach. It can be assumed that this also applies to the extinct sloths.