Comments on: The little matter of elephant garlic

By: The Tarkio Valley Sloth Project · The little matter of elephant garlic | www.caves.ca

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:15:28 +0000

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By: Megalonyx: the blood-sucking ground sloth? « The Theatrical Tanystropheus

Megalonyx: the blood-sucking ground sloth? « The Theatrical Tanystropheus — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:11:30 +0000

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By: Robert K. McAfee

Robert K. McAfee — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:04:22 +0000

Holmes, I can’t recall the reference off the top of my head but there has been some published work indicating that captive sloths will eat meat if given the opportunity. From a physiological aspect this certainly makes sense as any animal will take the benefits of adding new amino acid complexes to their system. Much easier to modify them than to make from scratch!
Ah, I just remembered. Merrit published on it in the 70-80’s, mostly in International Zoo Yearbook.

Dave, don’t let those sasquatch folk push you around. Modern sloths are slow by adaptation as a form of camouflage. No other Xenarthan exhibits slow movement (with maybe the exception of the silky anteater) and it is highly unlikely that any ground sloth moved at such a slow clip. So they are certainly viable candidates for being quick and wily! How else could they have come to such prominence in the North American megafauna and not be recorded (so far as we know) in “native american” histories? I say Slothsquatch

By: David

David — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:04:01 +0000

hi Rob– I was surprised to discover many true Sasquatch believers are insulted by suggestions of a possible connection with ground sloths. Their beast is quick and wily–he must be to have eluded capture for so long! Sloths on the other hand are notoriously slow and stupid (they say). I don’t want to encourage them, so I bite my tongue and content myself with the quiet confidence that our guy could beat their guy any day. I give more credence to the Curse of the Megatherium Club documented at http://www.charliejacoby.com/giantsloth.htm. Holmes and I are clearly living on borrowed time.

By: Holmes Semken

Holmes Semken — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:28:48 +0000

I suspect that most herbivores, if not all, will consume meat if given the opportunity. In my work with fossil micromammals, I occasionally kept rodents for pets and to observe their habits. I once had three meadow voles (prime grazers). For whatever reason, I put hamburger into their enclosure. They not only gobbled it up but but were not interested in grass, even when fresh, after that. The same proved to be true for deer mice. I did not carry this further because I felt cruel weaning them back to traditional fare. I suspect that sloths would go for animal protein but it would be opportunistic. But then, I have been subjected to years of conventional wisdom where sloth feeding habits have been transferred from one professors notes to those of others. Congratulations on a new idea! Holmes

By: Robert K. McAfee

Robert K. McAfee — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:41:44 +0000

If you want to add to rumors, I still think we could make a case for sasquatch being a surviving Megalonyx. Though the foot structure and orientation is a little different, the preserved prints for Paramylodon in Nevada were first thought to belong to a large human. But the northern range for Megalonxy and lack of slow-moving adaptation that we see in the tree sloths makes it a likely candidate.

Or at least I like the idea of it being a sloth rather than a large “wood ape”

By: Pete Eyheralde

Pete Eyheralde — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:32:49 +0000

Good one Dave….