Megatherium
Megatherium was a huge, bulky, slow-moving mammal that lived during the Pleistocene epoch in South America. It went extinct about 11,000 years ago. This ice-age mammal was the largest of the ground sloths; Megatherium's name means "great beast." Megatherium was named by paleontologist Richard Owen in 1856; the first Megatherium fossil was found in Argentina in 1789.
| Megatherium | |
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| Skeleton of Megatherium americanum in the Natural History Museum, London | |
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| Genus: | †Megatherium Cuvier, 1796
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Megatherium Media
- La terre avant le déluge, 1863 "Mégathérium restauré". (4513818527).jpg
La terre avant le déluge, 1863 "Mégathérium restauré". (4513818527)
- Megatherium Crystal Palace.jpg
Crystal Palace 'Dinosaurs'
Size of Megatherium americanum compared to a human
- Megatherium skull.png
Skull and lower jaws of M. americanum (note: nasal septum is broken) Scale bar = 10 cm, ~ 4 inches
- Megatherium cuvieri - right foot.JPG
Foot of Megatherium showing enlarged and elongate calcaneum (left) and lateral digits
- Pleistocene SA.jpg
Upright Megatherium americanum in an open landscape alongside two individuals of the glyptodont Glyptodon.