Fossil Giant Sloth (Megalonyx) Tail Vertebra - Florida

This is a caudal (tail) vertebra of the giant sloth, Megalonyx. It is 4.8" wide, 3.2" long and was collected from the Aucilla River in Florida.

Megalonyx was a large animal reaching a height of almost 10 feet and potentially weighing over a ton. While it's been proposed that early humans were responsible for the extinction of these slow moving animals, more recent studies point to their extinction occurring earlier and was probably due to the changing climate at the time.