page_title: Lestodon
section_title: Evidence of hunting
hierarchical_section_title: Lestodon / Evidence of hunting
caption_attribution_description: English: Skull of Lestodon armatus at the Harvard Museum of Natural History
context_page_description: Lestodon is an extinct genus of megafaunal ground sloth from South America during the Pliocene to Pleistocene periods. Its fossil remains have been found in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Brazil. Measuring approximately 4.6 metres from snout to tail tip, it is estimated to have weighed 2,590 kilograms. It was a herbivore and primarily fed on the grasses on the South American plains and is thought to perhaps have used its semi-bipedal stance to obtain foliage from trees. Lestodon is placed as member of the Mylodontidae as indicated by the lobed form of the last tooth in the dentition.
context_section_description: Researchers working at the Arroyo del Vizcaíno site near Sauce, Uruguay e suggested that Lestodon was hunted by humans about 30,000 years ago. This was based on analysis of Lestodon bones. Deep slash markings on some of them were suggested to be from the use of human stone tools. However, the date is significantly older than the oldest accepted dates for humans in South America around 15,000 years ago, and there is no evidence for stone tools at the site, making a natural origin for the marks more likely.
caption: Skull of Lestodon armatus at the Harvard Museum of Natural History
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