Partial skeleton (part of the torso, the cervical vertebrae, and the upper and lower jaw) of a giant ground sloth from the genus Scelidotherium. Representatives of this genus were found exclusively in South America. These original skeletal parts come from the El Caño site, located 10 km northwest of Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay.
These giant ground sloths lived during the Middle and Late Pleistocene, approximately 800,000 to 12,000 years ago, and were characterized by their elongated and narrow skull, somewhat resembling that of an anteater. The genus name Scelidotherium translates to “thigh-bone beast,” referring to the distinctive features of the large femur of these extinct ground sloths.
These animals were herbivores that primarily fed on fruits and buds. Their limbs were well-adapted for digging up tubers. With a length of about two meters, they could reach a weight of between 150 and 200 kilograms.