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Scelidotherium
''Scelidotherium'' is an extinct genus of ground sloth of the family Scelidotheriidae, endemic to South America during the Late Pleistocene epoch. It lived from 780,000 to 11,000 years ago, existing for approximately . Description It is characterized by an elongated, superficially anteater-like head. In fossil distribution, it is known from Argentina ( Luján and Arroyo Seco Formations), Bolivia ( Tarija Formation), Peru ( San Sebastián Formation), Panama, Brazil, Paraguay and Ecuador. In his journal of '' The Voyage of the Beagle'', Charles Darwin reports the finding of a nearly perfect fossil ''Scelidotherium'' in Punta Alta while travelling overland from Bahía Blanca to Buenos Aires in 1832. He allied it to the ''Megatherium ''Megatherium'' ( ; from Greek () 'great' + () 'beast') is an extinct genus of ground sloths endemic to South America that lived from the Early Pliocene through the end of the Late Pleistocene. It is best known for the elephant-sized type spe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scelidotheriidae
Scelidotheriidae is a family of extinct ground sloths within the order Pilosa, suborder Folivora and superfamily Mylodontoidea, related to the other extinct mylodontoid family, Mylodontidae, as well as to the living two-toed sloth family Choloepodidae. The only other extant family of the suborder Folivora is the distantly related Bradypodidae. Erected as the family Scelidotheriidae by Florentino Ameghino, Ameghino in 1889, the taxon was demoted to a subfamily of Mylodontidae by Gaudin in 1995. However, recent collagen sequence data indicates the group is less closely related to ''Mylodon'' and ''Lestodon'' than ''Choloepus'' is, and thus it has been elevated back to full family status by Presslee ''et al.'' (2019). Taxonomy Together with Mylodontidae, and the two-toed sloths, the scelidotheriids form the Taxonomic rank, superfamily Mylodontoidea. ''Chubutherium'' is an ancestral and very plesiomorphic member of this family and does not belong to the main group of closely related ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ground Sloth
Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. They varied widely in size with the largest, belonging to genera '' Lestodon'', ''Eremotherium'' and ''Megatherium'', being around the size of elephants. Ground sloths represent a paraphyletic group, as living tree sloths are thought to have evolved from ground sloth ancestors. The early evolution of ground sloths took place during the late Paleogene and Neogene of South America, while the continent was isolated. At their earliest appearance in the fossil record, they were already distinct at the family level. Sloths dispersed into the Greater Antilles during the Oligocene, and the presence of intervening islands between the American continents in the Miocene allowed a dispersal of some species into North America. They were hardy as evidenced by their high species diversity and their presence in a wide variety of environments, extending from the far south of Patagonia ( Cueva del Milodón ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megatherium
''Megatherium'' ( ; from Greek () 'great' + () 'beast') is an extinct genus of ground sloths endemic to South America that lived from the Early Pliocene through the end of the Late Pleistocene. It is best known for the elephant-sized type species ''Megatherium americanum'', primarily known from the Pampas, but ranging southwards to northernmost Patagonia and northwards to southern Bolivia during the late Middle Pleistocene and Late Pleistocene. Various other species belonging to the subgenus ''Pseudomegatherium'' ranging in size comparable to considerably smaller than ''M. americanum'' are known from the Andean region. The first (holotype) specimen of ''Megatherium'' was discovered in 1787 on the bank of the Luján River in what is now northern Argentina. The specimen was then shipped to Spain the following year wherein it caught the attention of the French paleontologist Georges Cuvier, who named the animal in 1796 and was the first to determine, by means of comparative anato ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a Common descent, common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental scientific concept. In a joint presentation with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this Phylogenetics, branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding.. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and was honoured by Burials and memorials in Westminster Abbey, burial in Westminster Abbey. Darwin's early interest in nature led him to neglect his medical education at the University of Edinburgh Medical Schoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in 2009 by the International Union of Geological Sciences, the cutoff of the Pleistocene and the preceding Pliocene was regarded as being 1.806 million years Before Present (BP). Publications from earlier years may use either definition of the period. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology. The name is a combination of Ancient Greek () 'most' and (; Latinized as ) 'new'. The aridification and cooling trends of the preceding Neogene were continued in the Pleistocene. The climate was strongly variable depending on the glacial cycle, oscillating between cold Glacial period, glacial periods and warmer Interglacial, int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prehistoric Sloths
Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of symbols, marks, and images appears very early among humans, but the earliest known writing systems appeared years ago. It took thousands of years for writing systems to be widely adopted, with writing having spread to almost all cultures by the 19th century. The end of prehistory therefore came at different times in different places, and the term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently. It is based on an old conception of history that without written records there could be no history. The most common conception today is that history is based on evidence, however the concept of prehistory hasn't been completely discarded. In the early Bronze Age, Sumer in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley Civilis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Captain Marshall Field Expeditions
The Captain Marshall Field Expeditions were undertaken by the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. The two Captain Marshall Field paleontological expeditions had the goal of finding South American Cenozoic mammals. The mammals of South America had evolved in near total isolation from the rest of the world from almost the beginning of the Cenozoic Era until only a few million years ago. Captain Marshall Field Brazilian Expedition In addition to his regular annuity of $100,000, in 1927 Captain Marshall Field provided $40,000 to defray the expenses of the Brazilian Expedition under the leadership of Mr. George K. Cherrie. Mrs. Marshall Field III and Mrs. Ernest Thompson Seton were members of this expedition, and the following members of the Museum staff participated: * Dr. B. E. Dahlgren, Acting Curator of the Department of Botany, assisted by J. R. Millar and George Petersen * Professor Henry W. Nichols, Associate Curator of Geology * Assistant Curator Karl P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− global city, according to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, GaWC 2024 ranking. The city proper has a population of 3.1 million and its urban area 16.7 million, making it the List of metropolitan areas, twentieth largest metropolitan area in the world. It is known for its preserved eclecticism, eclectic European #Architecture, architecture and rich culture, cultural life. It is a multiculturalism, multicultural city that is home to multiple ethnic and religious groups, contributing to its culture as well as to the dialect spoken in the city and in some other parts of the country. This is because since the 19th century, the city, and the country in general, has been a major recipient of millions of Immigration to Argentina, im ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bahía Blanca
Bahía Blanca (; English: ''White Bay''), colloquially referred to by its own local inhabitants as simply Bahía, is a city in the Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires province of Argentina, centered on the northwestern end of the eponymous Blanca Bay of the Argentine Sea. It is 4th largest city in the province, and the 16th largest in the country by metropolitan population. It is the seat of government of the Bahía Blanca Partido, with 336,574 inhabitants according to the . Bahía Blanca is the principal city in the Greater Bahía Blanca metropolitan area. The city has an important seaport with a depth of , kept constant upstream almost all along the length of the bay, where the Napostá Stream drains. ''Bahía Blanca'' means "White Bay". The name is due to the color of the salt covering the local soil surrounding the shores. The bay (which is an estuary) was seen by Ferdinand Magellan during his first circumnavigation of the world on the order of Charles I of Spain in 1520, lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Punta Alta
Punta Alta is a city in Argentina, about 25 kilometers southeast of Bahía Blanca. It has a population of 57,293. It is the capital ("cabecera") of the Coronel Rosales Partido. It was founded on 2 July 1898. The city is located near the Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ..., neighbouring the Port Belgrano Naval Base, which is home to the Argentine Naval fleet. The activities revolve around the Puerto Belgrano Naval Base, the largest of Argentina. In it, in addition to tasks related to the strict military services are developed to provide Sea Fleet Navy Argentina and work for others, standing naval activity in the dry docks. However, in the early twentieth century, tended to diversify the economy. Punta Alta was the seat of important investments especi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Voyage Of The Beagle
''The Voyage of the Beagle'' is the title most commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin and published in 1839 as his ''Journal and Remarks'', bringing him considerable fame and respect. This was the third volume of ''The Narrative of the Voyages of H.M. Ships Adventure and Beagle'', the other volumes of which were written or edited by the commanders of the ships. ''Journal and Remarks'' covers Darwin's part in the second survey expedition of the ship HMS ''Beagle''. Due to the popularity of Darwin's account, the publisher reissued it later in 1839 as Darwin's ''Journal of Researches'', and the revised second edition published in 1845 used this title. A republication of the book in 1905 introduced the title ''The Voyage of the "Beagle"'', by which it is now best known. ''Beagle'' sailed from Plymouth Sound on 27 December 1831 under the command of Captain Robert FitzRoy. While the expedition was originally planned to last two years, it lasted almost five—''Beagl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
