The Great Sloth Harvest

## Synopsis

The Great Sloth Harvest was a period of faunal and floral harvesting between 6.1 and 5.9 million years ago caused by mass eutrophication in south Ni'Khar which replaced extinct fauna in the area with species from South America, most prominently sloths, for which this event gets its' name. It is preceded by the North American Harvest (8mya) and proceeded by the Anchored Period, for which this harvest established.

## Cause

6 million years ago, due to shifting continents such as Arvel, Pakardia, and Ni'Khar, a volcanic release of phosphorous in the northern mountains of Ni’Khar triggered a bloom of algae and magic which wiped out the freshwaters of the Seridic Wetlands and marine habitats of the Crescent. Mostly aquatic habitats were impacted, though most freshwater of Ni’Khar’s reach of the known world became toxic. Once the nutrient surplus diminished and the region recovered, a massive harvest occurred from a habitat on Earth with a similar climate: Late Miocene South America.

## Harvest Time and Location

The Great Sloth Harvest took place around six million years ago during Earth's late Miocene, and the range of harvests consisted of the entirety of South America and its' surrounding coasts, leading to a wide variety of flora and fauna being deposited on Kaimere.

## Sloths

### Megatheres

  Largest of the harvested sloths was a four-ton sloth believed to be closely related to the ancestor of such Pleistocene icons as *Eremotherium* and *Megatherium*. Megatheres are closer relatives of three-fingered sloths, and may have had a similarly restricted diet and slower metabolism. These megatheres especially thrived on the grasslands of Ni’Khar, although with narrow snouts, they were mostly browsers of the mosaic forests scattered throughout the prairies, which enabled them to coexist alongside the grazing gomphotheres. They did face some competition from large thescelosaurs also vying for the browsing prairie niche, though these two lineages may have niche partitioned in other ways, perhaps in which types of tree they preferred. During the following five million years absent harvest, again called the Anchored Period, megatheres would be one of the most abundant large mammals in Ni’Khar.

The Grassland Megathere
### Lestodonts

 Lestodon is a robust mylodont known from Earth’s Pliocene and Pleistocene. Their largest males reached four tons, though the Miocene ancestor that was harvested was around half this size. As mylodonts related to the North American lestodonts already present, they had comparatively fast and demanding metabolisms compared to megathere sloths, and compensated by being bulk feeders of a wide range of plants, as well as scavenging any meat they stumbled across. Like the North American taxa already present, these lestodonts were diggers and protected by dermal armor, though in both areas, the newly-arrived lestodonts were much more specialized. In the highlands of Arvel, these lestodonts continued to grow in size and the complexity of their tunnels also increased. While the North American clade diversified into a wide range of niches, species, and habitats during these years, the specialized lestodonts continued to get larger. As they increased in size, males especially lost their fur.

Ancestor of the burrowing lestodonts
### Mylodonts and Tree Sloths

mylodonts harvested at this time included several smaller taxa which thrived especially in highland niches of both continents. Many of these smaller mylodonts were burrowers, though some became arboreal. The trees were also home to a few arboreal sloths, such as the two and three-fingered kaimerans sloths still found in the Crescent jungles today.

Ancestor of the generalist mylodonts
### Thallasocnus

  *Thalassocnus* was a genus of marine sloth reaching its heyday at the time of harvest. Their exact phylogeny is unknown, but they are either descended from stem megatheres or belonging to a sister clade. Though the cooling climate of Earth would not only reduce the sea levels and eliminate many of the seagrass meadows on which they relied, the connection of North and South America also changed the ocean currents which may have quickly cooled their habitat.

   In Kaimere, *Thalassocnus* was brought to a warm world with seagrass meadows spanning over half the territory of the Indian Ocean. Though these seagrass grazers did face some competition with sea cows and desmostylians, which had been introduced two million years prior, the slower metabolism of sloths allowed them to get larger and stronger on less food. Not much of an advantage in the times of plenty, but they could hold their own. They needed to go ashore to rest, but there were so many small islands scattered throughout the meadows that sea cows being fully aquatic was not a substantial competitive advantage.

Ancestor of aquatic thallasocnids
### Eionaletherium

A mylodont harvested at this time also had a semiaquatic lifestyle: Eionaletherium. They weren’t nearly as specialized for the lifestyle as Thalassocnus, but came to Kaimere and had success in the wetlands and shallows of the seagrass meadows. They never became particularly diverse, though their herds became quite abundant in the freshwater tropical habitats of the Anchored Period.

Ancestor of elephant sloths and related species
## Other Fauna

### Toxodonts

Before this harvest, generalist grazing herbivore niches were held by rhinos, but due to the extinction event which triggered the harvest, toxodonts took their place, they were already far more adept to Kaimere as they were already adapted to dealing with theropod predators and eating a variety of plant matter, leading to them out competing the already diminishing rhinos. Toxodonts remained successful throughout the Anchored period, but many genera, especially specialists and arvelith taxa, went extinct due to a changing axial tilt of the planet causing onset cooling. three known species survive to this day.

Kaimeran Toxodonts
### Dynomyids

Dinomyids were a clade of large rodents.

    When they arrived in Kaimere six million years ago, it was as though they were thrown into an ecological war zone. It appears becoming more social was a favored defense, as bone beds of large herds have been found in both Arvel and Ni’Khar. Throughout the Anchored Period, these giant rodents thrived in the wetlands. Throughout the Anchored Period, their size also increased, with the largest species weighing over a ton.

    When the world was made arid and average temperatures dropped 1.5 million years ago due to a tilt in Kaimere’s planetary axis, the Anchored Period ended in a mass extinction. The ecological turmoil was struck by an influx of new fauna from Earth’s Pleistocene, naturally already adapted to a colder world. The estuarine wetlands upon which the giant dinomyids shrank with the low sea levels, and many were forced upland or into competition with new beasts such as the first hippopotamuses and new rhinos and proboscideans. In Arvel, a suddenly colder Arvel was the source of their endangerment, while Ni’Khar was more impacted by wetland competition. In this less bountiful world, the large herds upon which Dinomyids relied was suddenly a detriment and difficult to maintain. Once the planet tilted and the ecosystems supported a bounty which just meant more competition, the giant rodents of the wetlands went extinct.

    The Kentarim Islands offered sanctuary. In the highland lakes, there were few predators, and none large enough to threaten a giant one-ton rodent. Food was plentiful, especially the fruit and tough wetland vegetation dinomyids preferred. It seems this context, having few predators and plenty of food, was the saving grace of the dinomyids. The highlands of the Kentarim islands became their permanent home once sea levels returned to modern heights.

Presumed ancestor of the Byamdan, last of the giant dinomyids
### Fish

Many fish species from South America were harvested in this period, with two known freshwater species being exceptionally large, the Arapaima and dire piranha .

### Megalodon

Megalodon had been brought to Kaimere in previous harvests, but the Miocene population was the most successful, becoming one of Kaimere's largest and most successful predators.

### Armadillos and Ant Eaters

Many species of armadillo and ant eater found success in Kaimere from this harvest, attaining large sizes and unique relationships with preestablished fauna.

### Phorusrhacids

  While many mammals such as reindeer, wolves, and cats are able to detect elements of ultraviolet light using their blue receptor cones, many birds can see into this visual spectrum with specialized clarity, and their prey all but glows against many backgrounds. This is an ability possessed by such predators as megaraptorans, cockatrices, and terror birds, helping them spot prey day and night. The Assembly believes terror birds of Earth could also see well into the ultraviolet spectrum, which may be why several South American megafaunal groups such as mylodont sloths and litopterns have sweat which dampens their UV signature, acting as campuflage for this extreme end of the visual field. As mylodonts are primarily nocturnal, having this additional buffer enables them to feed without drawing attention, and return to their dens during the day when most megaraptorans, cockatrices, and terror birds are hunting.

   Despite their armor, formidable claws, and self-sharpening tusks, even the largest common sloths are prey to a predator which followed South American sloths through the portal: terror birds. Firebacks, the species abundant in the forests of both continents, is the most common predator of bear sloths. While all can be a threat, a few firebacks are documented as specialists of bear sloth. There’s only one way for a terror bird to reliably get around the sloth’s armor and weapons, which they rectify by latching on with their beak and dissembling.

Prototitanis, ancestor of all living terror bird species, and its' mylodont prey item

## Lasting Impacts

The Great Sloth Harvest is considered one of the most impactful events in Kaimere's history. It established not only the 5 million year reign of ecological stability that is the Anchored Period, but set in place many clades which now define many ecosystems of the Known World, most prominent being the inland sea, which due to its high density of sloth diversity, is often considered the sloth sea. Terror birds harvested in this period established their place in a unique trophic level known as Vassal Predator.

### Modern Fauna Descended from the Harvest

* Whaler Shark
* Dire Piranha
* Arapaima
* Hukolgur
* Khalren Hukolgur
* Red River Sloth
* Reaper Sloth
* Urutumotu
* Gu
* Arvelith Elephant Seal
* Biluur
* Mawiri
* Juer
* Gimuur
* Lesser Two-toed sloth
* Greater Two-toed sloth
* Spotted 3-toed sloths
* Houze Chelotaur
* Tank Jackal
* Common Beraphaunt
* Crescent Beraphaunt
* Woolly Beraphaunt
* Troqatul
* Western Troqatul
* Silver Troqatul
* Rohakundi
* Harkundi
* Fireback