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 Mylodon - Definition 


Mylodon
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Xenarthra
Family:Mylodontidae
Genus:Mylodon

The Mylodon was a smaller breed of ground sloth, approximately ox-sized, related to the Megatherium and modern three-toed sloths and two-toed sloths. It supposedly died out about 10,000 years ago.

This great herbívore surpassed 3 meters from the end of the face to the end of the powerful tail; its height at shoulder was over 1.50 meters.

In the southern end of South America, in the province of Magallanes, Chile, they were found within a cave, fragments of "leather " as well as great amount of fossilised fecal deposits, bone with muscular weave adhered and abundant hair, all of them attributed to the Mylodon species listai (Ameghino, 1889). This interesting material has been the object of several studies, radiocarbon dating among others. This method allowed to determine that the rest belonged to a unit that died about 11,000 years ago.

Mylodon listai is not a species suitably established and its differentiation respect to Mylodon darwini - the species of the Pampan Region is debatable. Both extreme forms were relatively contemporary, having itself extinguished between 10,000 and 8000 years before the present


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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mylodon".