Giant Ground Sloth
What could be more awesome than a sloth? A bucket of baby sloths. Or, one really, really big sloth.
Megatherium was as big as an elephant, measuring as much as 20 feet from head to tail. Only mammoths and Paraceratherium were bigger. Its claws were so big it had to walk on the sides of its feet to accommodate them. And it could stand up and walk on two feet like you do.
The giant ground sloth could reach higher than any herbivore it encountered, giving it a big foraging advantage. Scientists think it may have also had an extra long tongue to grab leaves with, just like their little counterparts do today. The sloths were so big, they had no real enemies until we came along.
Some studies have suggested the animals may have even been carnivorous, using their size to help themselves to prey that saber-tooth tigers had killed or captured their own prey by simply knocking over other big animals. But most hew to the leaf-and-peace-loving story line for these mammals.
Megatherium lived in North and South America, hanging on until around 10,000 years ago. They are impressive specimens in many museum collections, and you might even be able to buy your own giant fossil sloth. We'd rather see the living, breathing version.
Images: Top: Megatherium americanum. Robert Bruce Horsfall, 1913. (Wikimedia commons). Right: Wikimedia commons.