What was Mylodon darwini?

Mylodon darwini is an extinct species of giant ground sloth that lived in southern South America during the Pleistocene epoch. Reaching lengths of 3 to 4 meters and weighing up to 2 tonnes, it is exceptionally well-preserved in fossil records, including findings of skin, hair, and dung. It went extinct around 12,000 to 10,000 years ago alongside other megafauna, potentially due to climate change, human hunting, or both.

What we know

• Mylodon darwini was an extinct giant ground sloth belonging to the family Mylodontidae, known from southern South America. [2, 3]
• The species was described by Richard Owen in 1840 based on fossil remains collected in the Pampas by Charles Darwin. [2]
• Preserved dung coprolites indicate that Mylodon darwini was primarily a grazer feeding on grasses and sedges. [2]
• Mylodon darwini became extinct around 12,000 to 10,000 years ago at the end of the Late Pleistocene or beginning of the Holocene. [2]

Still open

• Some recent authors suggest there may have been two species, restricting M. darwini to the Pampas and assigning Patagonian remains to Mylodon listai.
• The exact contribution of climate change versus hunting by Paleoindians to the extinction of Mylodon darwini remains debated.

Where to go next

• whoWho was Richard Owen?
• whereWhat was Cueva del Milodon?
• what caused itHow did the Quaternary extinction event affect South America?
• compared withWhat are the differences between Mylodon and Lestodon?
• how it workedWhat did ground sloths eat?
• an unexpected connectionHow does Charles Darwin connect to giant ground sloths?Charles Darwin personally collected the fossil remains during the Voyage of the Beagle that Richard Owen used to describe and name Mylodon darwini.

Sources

• [1]Mylodon (Wikidata Q310869) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Mylodon · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]M. darwini · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]G. darwini · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Darwini · CC BY-SA 4.0