Prehistoric sloths were giants and played a unique role in the ecosystem - research
Kyiv • UNN
Fossilized teeth of giant sloths reveal their unique role in Ice Age rainforests. These animals were tireless gardeners, spreading seeds and loosening the soil.
The prehistoric giant sloth was a 6500 kg "Goliath" and worked as a tireless gardener in the rainforests of South America. Now, fossilized teeth tell the unique role of these mysterious animals in the planet's ecosystem. This is reported by UNN with reference to Biology Letters.
Details
Prehistoric giant sloths were not at all "curious charmers," as in the famous Ice Age cartoon, but hardworking and persistent gardeners. The ancestors of today's sloths were among the largest and most diverse mammals that ever lived on Earth.
According to a recent study, these ancient sloths played a key role in the rainforests of the Ice Age and were there as ecosystem "engineers."
Reference
Ground sloths (Xenarthra; Folivora) were a group of terrestrial mammals that spread from South to Central and North America during the Great American Biotic Interchange at the end of the Cenozoic, approximately 3 million years ago.
The largest ground sloth ever recorded is Eremotherium, weighing 6500 kg. This species roamed the rainforests and savannas of South America. It subsequently migrated throughout Central America and along the Gulf Coast of North America.
Currently, all existing species belong to only two genera: Choloepus, two-toed sloths (two species), and Bradypus, three-toed sloths (four species). Both groups are restricted to arboreal habitats of the Neotropics of South and Central America and share similar feeding and locomotor behaviors.
Modern sloths, often depicted on children's accessories, are slow creatures that live quite inconspicuously in the rainforests of Central and South America, hiding in trees and feeding on leaves.
What did the ancestors of sloths influence millions of years ago?
Scientists Aditya Kurre and Larisa DeSantis studied microscopic traces on the fossilized teeth of extinct sloth species and found evidence of important activity for that time. It turns out that the animals played a significant role in seed dispersal and in caring for nature. Similar to modern tapirs, prehistoric sloths were "rainforest gardeners."
Giant ground sloths, Xenarthra, were herbivores, but also specialized in particularly hard foods such as roots, tubers, or fungi. They had powerful digging abilities, consistent with foraging both above and below ground. They loosened the soil and spread fungi, seeds, and other organisms over long distances.
The life of the ground sloth Nothrotheriops shastensis was somewhat different.
This species was picky and fed mainly on desert plants.
The ground sloth exhibited tooth microwear textures more similar to those of herbivores that feed on leaves and woody plants. This pattern supports previous studies of its fossilized dung, demonstrating a diet rich in desert plants such as yucca, agave, and saltbush.
But this species also shaped vegetation and helped the shrub landscapes of its homeland.
Researchers emphasize that the extinction of giant sloths negatively affected their environment. Currently, there is a lack of animals that would contribute to the health and diversity of rainforests.
Recall
Well-preserved remains of the oldest known pachycephalosaur Zavacephale rinpoche, approximately 108 million years old, have been found in Mongolia. This discovery will help understand the evolution of this mysterious group of dinosaurs and their social behavior.