Victoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️Jan 28, 2025

Did ice age beasts carve vast caves in South America?
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00216-x
nonpaywalled: https://archive.fo/Lp9Y2

* who/what cut ancient tunnels in sandstone in Brazil/nearby nations
* early twentieth century attributed to ancient Indigenous groups
* h/e research in past decade coalesced around theory the caves were carved by extinct megafauna
* South Am. sloth that lived between 4M - 12.k years ago
* 3m long, 1.5k kg weight

#evolution #geology #paleontology #megafauna #GiantSloths #caves

Did giant ice age beasts carve these vast caves in South America?

Researchers are investigating who — or what — cut ancient tunnels in sandstone in Brazil and nearby nations.

Alice Dubiel 🔬💉🦠😷🌬☮️Aug 6, 2023

This is very sad. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-03/california-joshua-trees-are-burning-in-desert-fire

#Wildfires #JoshuaTrees #yucca #giantsloths #10000years

California's Joshua trees are rapidly burning in desert fire

Joshua trees are already struggling to reproduce in a warming climate. Replacing those lost in the York fire may be all but impossible, experts fear.

Los Angeles Times
©Jul 12, 2023

BY #CHRISTINALARSON
Published #APNews
6:01 PM CDT, July 11, 2023

#Newresearch suggests humans lived in #SouthAmerica at the same time as now extinct #giantsloths, bolstering evidence that people arrived in the #Americas earlier than once thought.

https://apnews.com/article/giant-sloths-early-people-americas-4c28e6d96f8bd58ede8ac48e0c39b533

#earlypeoples

Pendants made from giant sloths suggest earlier arrival of people in the Americas

New research suggests humans lived in South America at the same time as now extinct giant sloths, bolstering evidence that people arrived in the Americas earlier than previously thought. Scientists analyzed pendants made of bony material from the sloths and concluded they were the work of deliberate craftsmanship. Dating of the ornaments and sediment at the Brazil site point to an age of 25,000 to 27,000 years. That’s several thousand years before some earlier theories suggested the first people arrived in the Americas over a land bridge from Asia. The research was published Wednesday in a British journal.

AP News
dreaming_in_sapphireJan 16, 2018

Hello friends we all have guacamole today thanks to giant sloth poop, your Fun Fact For The Day

#sloths #prehistoricpoop #giantsloths

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/avocado-giant-sloth-seed?utm_source=Gastro+Obscura+Weekly+E-mail&utm_campaign=b975c4eee6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_01_15&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2418498528-b975c4eee6-67177785&mc_cid=b975c4eee6&mc_eid=5cf55c31b4

Like Avocados? Thank This Giant Extinct Sloth

They ate avocados, pit and all.