Daily Dose of Prehistory: Back From Extinction 112

Megatherium americanum, meaning "American Great Beast", was a species of giant ground sloth that lived in South America during the Pliocene up until around 7000 years ago. It was the largest of its kind and ranked amongst the largest land mammals ever, only beaten out by several proboscideans and the giant rhinoceros Paraceratherium, measuring up 20 feet long and up to 4 tons in weight. Like its relatives, Megatherium was a facultative biped like chimpanzees and hadrosaurid dinosaurs meaning that it was primarily a quadruped but could walk on two legs if need be. Interestingly, Megatherium was also the very first prehistoric animal skeleton to ever be mounted in a lifelike position back in 1795. Unlike most other megafuana which went extinct around 12000 years ago, this animal survived an extra 5000 years due to unknown factors before succumbing to climate change. Megatherium is one of many animals that have been considered for deextinction due to a large amount of mummified material.