Ground Sloth Fossils
From Ohio History Central
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File:Burning of Union Depot, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 21-22 July 1877.jpg This ground sloth was 11 feet long (3.35 m) and probably weighed between 1,000 and 1,500 pounds. Workmen digging a drainage ditch on the farm of Abraham Drushell in Berlin Township, Holmes County found this skeleton in 1890. Part of the skeleton has been reconstructed to make a complete specimen. |
A large and bizarre animal that inhabited Ohio during the Pleistocene and became extinct at the end was the ground sloth. These ox-sized animals migrated northward from South America during the Ice Age and are occasionally found in bog deposits in Ohio. They had large, strong front legs with claws that were used to obtain vegetation.