Generations of giant sloths died of an “ apparent mess - death ” after congregate in a shoal , oxygen - deprived fen sometime during the last Ice Age .
During the late - Pleistocene , a multigenerational group of at least 22 giant ground sloths ( Eremotherium laurillardi)somehow snuff it and were subsequently preserved in perpetuity in a realm along the southwesterly seacoast of Ecuador known as Tanque Loma . Now extinct , giant laziness were unwashed in theNew World Quaternary , the geological era spanning the last 2.6 million years or so , yet relatively piddling is known about individual mintage ’ behavior and their societal structure .
Published in the journalPalaeogeography , Palaeoclimatology , Palaeoecology , the giant sloth necropolis was ground in what is known as an asphaltic site . Ancient plant and zoology have been bring out in about a dozen asphaltic land site , also known as “ tar pits , ” around the world . by nature seeping asphalt kit and boodle as an in - situ preservative , conserve castanets and other material .
“ Tar pits are incredibly challenging , and Rancho La Brea is in all likelihood the most well - get it on fossil website in the world , but , despite more than a century of research , we ’re learn that we have only just scrape up the surface , ” said study author Dr Emily Lindsey in astatement . Lindsey attend to as the adjunct curator and situation conductor atLa Brea Tar Pitsin Los Angeles .
“ While asphaltic sites are rarefied , they can preserve both a tremendous quantity and variety of fossils , making explore these site a scientific priority , ” said Lindsey . “ Tar fossa are one of the only types of fossil sites where we can find end of an entire ecosystem carry on – leaves and ivory , mega mammals and tiny insects , source and shell . As such , they are passing valuable for paleontologists enquire important topics like evolution , paleoecology , and mood change , and are peculiarly of the essence in area like the neotropics where the Pleistocene fogey disc is sparse . "
scientist hollow Tanque Loma and conducted carbon 14 dating , cautiously figure that most of theEremotheriumbones range from about 18,000 to 23,000 days ago . Sedimentological , geochemical , and taphonomic data point were also collected , showing that the surroundings was anoxic , meaning that it lacked O and was potential a boggy aquatic environment that underwent periodical droughts .
Such mass graveyards can arise either gradually or from one ruinous event , putting forth three theory for the death . Firstly , the research worker suggest that Tanque Loma may have served as a watering cakehole that was frequented by the animals over an extended period of time and died off slowly from various causes .
establish on the accumulation of the cadaver , the varying ages of the someone , and an abundant presence of poop consistent with plant that the creature ate , researchers believe that the massive animate being died in one event . It ’s possible that the gargantuan slothfulness conk out at once from selective predation – either from world or other carnivorous piranha – or a geological event , such as a volcanic eruption or flood . More likely , the sloths may have been suffering from a regional drouth and sought the tearing gob for reprieve and , already sickly and disease - ridden , continued to degrade in health before their ultimate demise .
The authors conclude that “ this expiry result could have resulted from drought and/or disease stem from the contamination of the wallow , parallel situations observed among hippo populations in water holes on the present - day African savanna . ”
However they met their end , the giant sloth cater insight into how these puzzling creatures live and the spectacular agency in which they died . Also discover in the graveyard were five other large mammals , include a mylodont sloth , an elephant - like gomphothere , an ancient armadillo congenator eff as a pamphadere , as well as a horse and a deer .
“ The discoveries we make at tar pits help us understand how preceding specie and ecosystems responded to late - Pleistocene epoch clime change and human activities – processes that are once again impacting life on Earth today , ” noted Lindsey .
