Historic big sloths weren’t slothing round

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From:
The Royal Society

Lost giants, misplaced capabilities: paleodietary insights into the ecological niches of Pleistocene floor sloths

Biology Letters

Though all trendy sloths are tree-dwelling leaf-eaters, their extinct family—the large floor sloths—performed numerous and significant roles in ice age ecosystems. Researchers examined the microscopic put on patterns on fossil tooth from the La Brea Tar Pits and located that Paramylodon harlani consumed considerably more durable meals than Nothrotheriops shastensis, seemingly together with roots, tubers, and seeds. These dietary distinctions reveal that floor sloths occupied distinctive ecological niches quite than being functionally redundant herbivores. Their extinction diminished key ecosystem capabilities like seed dispersal and bioturbation, underscoring the lasting ecological penalties of Pleistocene megafaunal loss.