Shasta Ground Sloth Skull Replica

Description

Shasta Ground Sloth Skull Replica measures 13.8L x 5.8W x 7.0H in. Shasta Ground Sloth Skull is museum quality polyurethane resin cast of original Page Museum specimen from NHMLAC. 2-part skull (separate cranium and jaw). Scale 1:1, Made in USA.

Nothrotheriops shastensis is a genus of Pleistocene ground sloth found in North America, from what is now central Mexico to the southern United States.

This genus of bear-sized xenarthran was related to the much larger, and far more famous Megatherium, although it has recently been placed in a different family, Nothrotheriidae. The best known species, Nothrotheriops shastensis, is also called the Shasta ground sloth.

The Shasta ground sloth or Nothrotheriops shastensis is found in greatest abundance at the La Brea Tar Pits. The most famous Nothrotheriops shastensis was recovered from a lava tube at Aden Crater in New Mexico and was found to still have hair and tendon preserved.

This nearly complete specimen is on display at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, Connecticut.

Numerous dung boluses belonging to Shasta ground sloth or Nothrotheriops shastensis have also been found throughout the southwestern United States and have provided an insight into the diet of these extinct animals.

This genus’s lineage dates back to the Miocene. The ancestors of Nothrotheriops shastensis migrated to North America from South America as part of the Great American Interchange during the Blancan, about 2.6 million years ago.

Although Shasta ground sloth or Nothrotheriops shastensis was one of the smallest of the species, it still reached 9.0 ft. from snout to tail tip and weighed 551 lb. much smaller than some of its contemporary species such as the Eremotherium, which could easily weigh over two tons and be 20 ft. long.

It had large, stout hindlegs and a powerful, muscular tail that it used to form a supporting tripod whenever it shifted from a quadrupedal stance to a bipedal one (i.e. Eremotherium).

Scientific classification:

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Mammalia
• Order: Xenarthra
• Family: †Nothrotheriidae
• Genus: †Nothrotheriops
• Type species: †Nothrotheriops shastensis
• Conservation Status: Extinct

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