March 26, 2024
In paleontology, correct names are keys to accurate study
When the skeletal remains of a giant ground sloth were first unearthed in 1796, the discovery marked one of the earliest paleontological finds in American history.
The animal, named Megalonyx by Thomas Jefferson in 1799, was the first genus of fossil named from the United States. Thought to have roamed North America during one of the last ice ages, the extinct giant ground sloth was an herbivorous mammal resembling a large bear — at full size, it likely reached nearly 10 feet tall (3 meters) and weighed about as much as a small elephant.