Giant Ground Sloth, Jefferson's Ground Sloth
name: label: Discipline
content: Paleobiology
label: Region
content: US Southeast (NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, TN, KY)
notes: label: Description
content: This object is part of the Education and Outreach collection, some of which are in the Q?rius science education center and available to see.
label: Geologic Age
content: Cenozoic - Quaternary - Pleistocene
label: Notes
content: This claw is from a Giant Ground Sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii). Megalonyx is an extinct genus of the modern-day ground sloth found in North America from the Late Miocene to the Pleistocene (living 10.3 million years ago to 11,000 years ago). Each forelimb had three large claws, like this one, that the Giant Ground Sloth used to help retrieve leaves and plant materials to eat. The discovery of Megalonyx jeffersonii was credited to Thomas Jefferson in 1804 based on his analysis and paper for the American Philosophical Society of a fossil he was gifted in the late 18th century. This claw is 4 cm thick and measures roughly 16.5 cm x 8 cm.
label: Number of objects in this record
content: 1
label: Record Last Modified
content: 19 Oct 2023
place: label: Collecting Locality
content: Nag's Head beach, about a mile from Marker 20, North America, United States, North Carolina, Dare County
topic: label: Topic
content: Education & Outreach
setName: label: See more items in
content: Q?rius, The Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center
publisher: label: Scientific Name
content: Megalonyx jeffersonii
identifier: label: USNM Number
content: EO53198
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Education and Outreach collections
taxonomicName: label: Taxonomy
content: Animalia, Chordata, Mammalia, Xenarthra, Pilosa, Megalonychidae
physicalDescription: label: Is this real?
content: No, it's a cast.