Underwood said the specimen the most complete fossil of an extinct Shasta ground sloth anywhere in the Southwest, with about 60 percent of its bones intact. Researchers believe the creature most likely fell into the cave and died. Molasses joined the museum’s collection in 1995, five years after some hikers found it in a cave near Devil Peak, northwest of Primm. The museum did the same thing last year for the mammoth mammoth skeleton - now known as Christopher Columbian Mammoth - that greets visitors at the entrance to the main hall of exhibits. The Name the Fossil Contest was held to celebrate National Fossil Day on Oct. You were allowed cast more than one ballot in the contest, but you had to do so in person, Underwood said. Molasses was coaxed along to the winner’s circle by members of Caden’s family, who kept dropping by the museum to vote for the boy’s entry. That’s how his mom describes him when he’s dragging his feet: slow as molasses.Ĭaden’s name beat out two other finalists, handpicked by museum staff from a larger pool of entries: Daisy, a play on the fact that the skeleton is from a female Shasta ground sloth that has been pushing up daisies for the better part of 32,000 years and Primmabella, because the bones were found in a cave near Primm, where the sloth was “on her way to go shopping and get herself a Fossil handbag,” Underwood said. Sali Underwood, the museum’s curator of natural history, said the idea came to Caden out of personal experience. The winner is Caden Burt, a 5-year-old boy with glasses and spiky hair. (Tom Dyer/Nevada State Museum Las Vegas)Īpparently, even news travels slowly in the world of sloth naming.īut what this story lacks in timeliness, it makes up for in cuteness.Ĭlear back on Saturday, officials at the Nevada State Museum at the Springs Preserve unveiled the winning entry in their contest to name the collection’s giant ice age sloth skeleton. Caden won a plush sloth and gift bag and his name is added to the permanent exhibit. In the Midwest, most of them have been found in caves, including sites in Missouri, Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.Caden Burt holds his winnings for picking the name of the fossil ground sloth. They have also been found in California, Arizona and New Mexico, as well as northern Mexico. ![]() Some have been found as far north as Alaska and the Northwest Territories of Canada. Megalonyx fossils have been recovered from about 150 sites across North America, according to the Illinois State Museum. They likely relied on their robust hind feet, in combination with a stout tail, to support their massive bodies when rearing on their hindquarters to reach high into trees for forage, Wilkins explained. Their hind foot structure and posture of the ground sloths also helped it with meal time. "They had long curved claws, likely an adaptation for foraging for grabbing branches and stripping foliage from tree limbs, as well as for protection from predators," Wilkins told Live Science. Their peg-like teeth were ideal for this diet, but they also had other body parts that played a large part in their meals. ![]() Ground sloths were herbivores, meaning they ate vegetation. Some argue that they were around for many more thousands of years (opens in new tab), though, surviving on islands in the Caribbean. This made for a very cold environment that few animals could endure.īy the end of the Great Ice Age, around 11,700 years ago, many believe that the giant ground sloths had become extinct. ![]() At its peak, as much as 30 percent of the Earth's surface was covered by glaciers and parts of the northern oceans were frozen, according to the San Diego Natural History Museum. Giant ground sloths preferred forests along rivers or lakes, but they also lived during the Pleistocene period, also known as the Great Ice Age.
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