Tulang "giant sloth" dijumpai di dalam sinkhole

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In 2014, divers were searching for Maya artifacts in a deep sinkhole in central Belize when they stumbled across the remains of a creature that long predated this ancient civilization. They found a humerus, a femur and part of a tooth belonging to the sloth. The area is a system of 25 lakes and cenotes, or natural sinkholes.

The giant ground sloth, which could reach over 13 feettall, was desperate for water. It found relief in a deep sinkhole, but it was never able to climb out.Divers estimated the sinkhole is around 200 feet deep, but said the clay shelf where they found the bones was about 70 feet down. They went extinct between 14,000 and 10,000 years ago, but the recently discovered tooth belonged to a sloth that lived 27,000 years ago, according to carbon dating. The tooth, only partially fossilized, contained enough tissue that could be tested to show what the sloth ate for the last year it was alive. The analysis also revealed the region's climate and environment during that time.