Object Details
- Discipline
- Paleobiology
- Region
- US Southeast (NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, TN, KY)
- Description
- This object is part of the Education and Outreach collection, some of which are in the Q?rius science education center and available to see.
- Geologic Age
- Cenozoic - Quaternary - Pleistocene
- This claw is from a Giant Ground Sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii). Megalonyx is an extinct genus of the modern-day ground sloth found in North America from the Late Miocene to the Pleistocene (living 10.3 million years ago to 11,000 years ago). Each forelimb had three large claws, like this one, that the Giant Ground Sloth used to help retrieve leaves and plant materials to eat. The discovery of Megalonyx jeffersonii was credited to Thomas Jefferson in 1804 based on his analysis and paper for the American Philosophical Society of a fossil he was gifted in the late 18th century. This claw is 4 cm thick and measures roughly 16.5 cm x 8 cm.
- Number of objects in this record
- 1
- Record Last Modified
- 19 Oct 2023
- USNM Number
- EO53198
- Object Type
- Education and Outreach collections
- Is this real?
- No, it's a cast.
- Collecting Locality
- Nag's Head beach, about a mile from Marker 20, North America, United States, North Carolina, Dare County
- Scientific Name
- Megalonyx jeffersonii
- See more items in
- Q?rius, The Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center
- Taxonomy
- Animalia, Chordata, Mammalia, Xenarthra, Pilosa, Megalonychidae
- Topic
- Education & Outreach
- Record ID
- nmnheducation_10023354
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3e48ae2c2-3a42-4dda-bb3e-0a6df5f7a414
