In the Joao Lemos cave in the central-western Brazilian state of Minas Gerais (south-east), fossils of a giant sloth that lived during the so-called Ice Age have been discovered.

The animal lived during the Pleistocene epoch and belonged to the megafauna that became extinct at the end of the last ice age.

Scientists were able to recover the remains even after calcifying 25 per cent of the skeleton, including ribs, skull fragments and vertebrae. The discovery was made by archaeologists during fieldwork by the Brazilian Speleological School of the Brazilian Speleological Society in 2022.

In collaboration with researchers from the Graduate School of Geography at PUC Minas, the identification and rescue of the remains were only completed now, in 2024.

The fossils of the giant sloth Catonyx Aff cuvieri from the family Scelidotheriinae were found to be “permineralised”, meaning that the biomineral structure of the bones has been replaced by calcite, a mineral from the environment.

According to Luiz Eduardo Panisset, a lecturer at the Department of Geography at the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (PUC Minas), it was not possible to determine the sex of the animal because the pelvic shell of the fossil was not found.

“However, we can say that the animal reached the adult stage because the limbs of the long bones, the epiphyses, fused with the diaphyses, that is, the bony body,” he explained.

Researcher Bruno Kraemer, who was involved in the work, said the animal had the approximate build of a 150kg bull, an elongated body, a tubular skull, stunted limbs and powerful claws.

“These animals stepped on the outside of their feet. They could also build burrows in the ground to breed and hide,” the scientist explained.

Now the found material will become part of the palaeontological collection of the University Museum of Natural Sciences in Belo Horizonte, the capital of the state of Minas Gerais. This is reported by Prensa Latina, a partner of TV BRICS.

Photo: IStock