3.7" Giant Ground Sloth (Eremotherium?) Tooth - South Carolina

This is a well preserved 3.7" long fossil tooth from a giant ground sloth that was most likely a member of the genus Eremotherium. This tooth was collected from a river in South Carolina. There were two massive ground sloth genera that had an overlapping range, which makes identification of isolated teeth quite difficult. However, the size of this tooth leads us to lean toward Eremotherium as they were substantially larger than Megalonyx.

Eremotherium ground sloths were absolutely huge, often standing a staggering nine feet tall. These beasts had long, curved claws that they used to dig up roots and assist with digging burrows. Their teeth reflect a vegetarian diet, much like their modern South American descendants, the Two-Toed and Three-Toed sloths. Unlike modern sloths that are almost strictly arboreal, Pleistocene sloths were only terrestrial. Interestingly, North American ground sloths evolved from South American relatives and were relatively prevalent in southern regions through the Ice Age.