• At the Institute of Evolutionary Sciences in Montpellier, researchers are passionate about the remains of a fossilized skeleton of a giant sloth, found in Guyana.

  • The study of the bones should make it possible to learn more about this astonishing animal, which disappeared around 12,000 years ago, and about its evolution.

  • Sediment studies should also tell us more about vegetation in the days of the giant sloth, and perhaps understand why it went extinct.

At the Institute of Evolutionary Sciences in Montpellier (Isem), researchers have recently become passionate about an astonishing animal, whose species became extinct about 12,000 years ago: the giant sloth. The remains of a fossilized skeleton, found a few months ago in Guyana, will undoubtedly allow the teams of this laboratory specializing in evolution, renowned worldwide for its work, to learn a little more about this big beast with bear paces.

But before studying them, it was first necessary to repatriate to France the fragments of the mandible, the maxilla, the radius and the humerus discovered by illegal miners near the Maroni river. Not without a few twists and turns. The findings were consolidated with extra-strong glue, and "covered with a rare commodity in the field, when you are in self-sufficiency ... Toilet paper", smiles the palaeontologist from Montpellier Pierre-Olivier Antoine, who led shipping. “We packed them to avoid shocks, then we put them in small freezer bags. "

Discovery of a giant sloth fossil in #Guyana.


The species that would be extinct 12,000 years ago, peaked at 4 meters and could weigh up to 4 tons.



It is a huge leap in knowledge for paleontology.

pic.twitter.com/JYX2q3lq3P

- Ministry of Overseas (@lesoutremer) October 27, 2021

"A long term job"

On the other hand, Pierre-Olivier Antoine had to explain at the airport, in Cayenne, why the bag he was taking in the cabin was full of bones.

“We are used to telling stories to sleep on… But which are nevertheless true!

», Smiles the paleontologist, who was finally able to put the fossils away in the cabin chief's locker.

These bones are now safely at Isem, and work has begun.

“We are going to work on a blank page,” enthuses Pierre-Olivier Antoine, so little is known about this animal, which could weigh up to 4 tonnes.

"It is now a fairly long-term job that awaits many of us", continues the researcher.

And the advantage of Isem is that it brings together lots of evolution specialists, all of whom will help unlock the secrets of the giant sloth.

"This laboratory is a marvel," notes the paleontologist.

If we ask ourselves a question, we talk to a neighbor on the floor, or we climb to another floor, and we have the answer.

"

Learn more about the evolution of this species

The bones will be carefully observed with the naked eye, but also via an X-ray microtomography, a technique borrowed from medicine which allows, with very high resolution, to "reconstitute the surface of the bones, but above all, to pass to the through, without destroying them, notes the paleontologist. This will allow us, for example, to see the length and shape of the teeth inside the jaw, without having to break it. And to carry out a mapping of the nerve endings. "

Isem researchers will also try to take DNA, if possible, from the remains of this giant sloth.

All these characteristics will be compared to those of other fossils of the species, or of their current descendants, in order to learn a little more about their evolution.

Samples on the teeth could also allow to define more precisely the diet of this creature.

Was she only herbivorous, as we think?

Or did he also feed on insects, for example?

“This work has never been done on this animal,” notes the researcher.

Finally, studies of sediments, taken on site, should teach us more about the vegetation, at the time of the giant sloth and its contemporaries, the mastodons or the saber-toothed tigers.

And, perhaps, understand why he disappeared.

Planet

Guyana: giant sloth fossil discovered

Science

The dinosaurs weren't in great shape already when a meteor hit Earth

  • Languedoc-Roussillon

  • Guyana

  • Research

  • Montpellier

  • Animals

  • Science