Paramylodon harlani
Living sloths are medium-sized, very slow-moving,
arboreal mammals of South America & Mesoamerica. During the middle
& late Cenozoic, several large, ground-dwelling sloth species existed in the
Americas. Shown below is one of the giant ground sloths known from the
late Pleistocene of North America. This is Harlan’s ground sloth, Paramylodon
harlani (a.k.a. Glossotherium (Paramylodon) harlani), which
got to be 2 meters long.
Classification: Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Mammalia, Xenarthra,
Phyllophaga, Mylodonta, Mylodontoidea, Mylodontidae
Paramylodon harlani Owen, 1840 - Harlan’s ground sloth skeleton from the La
Brea Tar Pits (~uppermost Pleistocene) of Los Angeles, southern California,
USA.
(CM 10198, Carnegie Museum of Natural History,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA)
Paramylodon harlani Owen, 1840 (above & below) - Harlan’s ground
sloth skull from the La Brea Tar Pits (~uppermost Pleistocene) of Los
Angeles, southern California, USA.
(CM 10198, Carnegie Museum of Natural History,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA)
Paramylodon harlani Owen, 1840 - reconstruction of Harlan’s ground sloth
(Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA).