Bruno a fan of dinosaurs. He always tells his parents, Barbara Lugones and Álvaro Gonzalez, with whom he lives. Miramar. He always reminds them when he gets the chance. What this 8-year-old boy definitely did not imagine was that he would meet Fossil remains of an extinct giant slothnamed sledther (Scelidotherium leptocephalum) She lived in South America during the ice age.
Daniel Boh, curator of the Museum of Natural Sciences, confirmed this infobae finding. “It was just like that, the boy was hanging out on the beach with his parents and they reported to the museum,” Poh explained.
Miramarone of Argentina’s favorite spa towns, shelters beneath the surface, ancient treasures of a world that has already disappeared, being one of the Most transcendental excavation sites All over the world since the end of the nineteenth century, the sage Florentino Amegino has come to the attention.
days ago, Bruno Gonzalez They were walking on the wide beaches to the south of the city of Miramar in Buenos Aires, near the La Wing stream, when they discovered some bones embedded in the narrow canyon.
Thus, Barbara Lugones and Álvaro González, Bruno’s parents, contacted my staff Paleontology Laboratory at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Miramardepends on Azara Foundation And Municipality of Alvaradoto announce the discovery and check whether it is a real fossil remains.
In this way, they approached the site with the museum staff in the area of the La Whalera stream, a place well known for other related finds, such as fossil jaw of a giant vampire, he Desmodeus Draculawhich had global significance not long ago.
In this case, it was Located on the pelvis and articulated tail from U.S Extinct giant slothsnamed sledther (Scelidotherium leptocephalum), It is about three meters long and weighs an estimated one ton, which lived in South America during the Ice Age, that is, the last two million years before the present, until 10,000 years ago, when the Ice Age reached its peak.
“The boy has a keen interest in fossils because he himself realized that what he found was important. For these reasons, he went straight to his parents to tell them what he had found, and that these remains were very different from what is usually seen in the shapes of cliffs where stones are seen. He realized that they were bones,” Poh said. “.
After several hours of work, the bojon was separated from the chemical-protected sediment, to be transported to more favorable conditions to the paleontological laboratory, where, due to its fragility, technician Mariano Magnussen is still preparing it carefully. …and was exposed at that time to environmental conditions.
Scelidoterio, is the smallest species of all the giant sloths that lived in the Pampean region during the Quaternary. But it was also a giant herbivore, armed with huge claws, which they not only used to defend themselves or get to their food, but huge cave-diggers, which they used as burrows to take shelter or care for their offspring.
“These results are always important to obtain a reference for where it is, that is, what is the distribution. A study will also be carried out on its exact age. It also helps to know what the environment was like and what kind of animals were in those times,” added the curator of the Museum of Natural Sciences in Miramar.
The material, which makes up the tail of this now extinct mammal, is still undergoing artistic processing to preserve it. Then they will be observed and studied by a multidisciplinary team made up of researchers from the Félix de Azara Natural History Foundation, from the Laboratory of Comparative Anatomy and Vertebrate Evolution (LACEV) based on the Macn-Conicet integrated by the paleontologist, Dr. Federico Agnolin, who directs the scientific studies of the area , and the same staff of the Miramarense Museum.
In particular, this giant sloth lived about 100,000 years ago, in a completely different environment than today, accompanied by huge beasts, like other slightly larger sloths (megatherium), the huge South American elephant (notiomastodon), glyptodons (doedicurus), saber-toothed tigers (Smilodon) and the short-faced bear (Arctotherium), among others, argued Daniel Boh, Curator of Miramar Museums.
“We must highlight on this occasion, the correct procedure of Barbara and Álvaro, parents of Bruno González, in accompanying and communicating with the Museum, with a view to their extraction by appropriate personnel, so that they are preserved in a scientific institution”, acknowledged by the Museum.
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