All articles tagged with #sloths
Recent discoveries in Brazil reveal ancient tunnels not made by humans but likely created by giant extinct ground sloths, challenging previous assumptions about their origins and providing new insights into prehistoric animal behavior and human interactions during the Ice Age.
Historically, sloths ranged from small tree-dwellers to massive ground-dwellers up to 20 feet tall, but most of the giant species went extinct around 15,000 years ago, primarily due to human hunting, with habitat changes also influencing their evolution. Today, only smaller, tree-dwelling sloths remain.
Ancient sloths, some as large as elephants, once roamed America, but most went extinct around 15,000 years ago, likely due to human activity rather than climate change. Modern sloths are much smaller and better adapted to arboreal life, with only six species remaining, two of which are endangered. The study highlights the impact of humans on megafauna extinction and the importance of conservation.
Scientists are warning about the spread of the Oropouche virus, traditionally found in the Amazon rainforest and carried by sloths, which can cause symptoms similar to Dengue and potentially fatal brain diseases. The virus is spreading due to deforestation, urbanization, and climate change, with cases now reported in multiple South American countries and even Europe. Traditional mosquito control measures may be ineffective, and there is limited knowledge about the virus's transmission, raising concerns about future outbreaks.
Doreen and Brian Cronin, a couple who met through Facebook, have successfully collaborated on children's books, including "Mama in the Moon," inspired by a real-life story of a baby sloth falling from a tree. Their work emphasizes themes of comfort and safety, with Brian's illustrations using dark tones and bright highlights to create a soothing bedtime experience for children.
Giant tunnels discovered in South America were not made by humans or geological processes, but rather by extinct megafauna, likely giant sloths that lived 8-10,000 years ago. Over 1,500 tunnels made by the beasts were found in the Rio Grande do Sul area, with the longest stretching for 609 meters and standing at 1.8 meters tall. Evidence suggests that humans may have hunted giant sloths, as fossilized footprints of sloths and humans found in Utah were analyzed by a team in a 2018 study, finding them to be evidence that humans "actively stalked and/or harassed sloths, if not hunted them."