Other Definitions
mylodon (dict)
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MylodonThe Mylodon was a smaller form of ground sloth, approximately ox-sized, related to the huge Megatherium and the smaller modern three-toed sloths and two-toed sloths. It supposedly died out about 10,000 years ago. This great herbvore surpassed 3 meters from the end of the face to the end of the short but muscular tail; its height at shoulder was over 1.50 meters. In the southern end of South America, in the province of Magallanes, Chile, there were found in a cave fragments of "leather " as well as great amount of fossilised fecal deposits, bone with dried muscular tissue adhering and abundant hair, all of them attributed to the Mylodon species listai (Ameghino, 1889). This interesting material has been the object of several studies, radiocarbon dating among others. This method allowed to determine that the rest belonged to a specimen that died about 11,000 years ago, or possibly even more recently. Mylodon listai is not a species satisfyingly established and its differentiation respect to Mylodon darwini - the species of the Pampan Region - is debatable. Both extreme forms were relatively contemporary, having become extinct between 10,000 and 8,000 years before the present.
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