Even though the sloth is a vegetarian, it would not change the fact that actually seeing the massive mammal would be quite terrifying. Imagine a 13-foot, three to five ton mammal strolling through the city of Daytona Beach. Along with the giant ground sloth, this prehistoric mammal was discovered at Reed Canal Park back in 1975. Their legs were short and stout, the perfect size to hold the weight of the shell. This unique species was almost covered head-to-toe in armor that was made up of about 1,000 osteoderms, which are bony plates about 2.5 centimeters thick. They could grow up to seven-feet and weigh about half a ton. Their size and mass is the equivalent to a small car. The glyptodont is another prehistoric mammal that lived almost two million years ago. The mastodon was discovered almost five years ago in a construction site in Daytona Beach. It took volunteers and workers about two-and-a-half years to uncover the remains. The giant ground sloth is the most complete skeleton in the world and was discovered just three miles south of MOAS. The highly impressive giant ground sloth and mastodon are quite the display. They live in both saltwater and freshwater ecosystems and date back to 550 million years ago. There are over 85,000 species of mollusks, which makes it the second most diversified kind of organism behind insects. These mollusks are considered a house for the invertebrate animals that live inside them.

The butterfly exhibit is quite pleasant and is composed of butterflies ranging from all sorts of shapes and sizes.Īs you begin to walk in to the Prehistory of Florida Gallery, along with the insects and butterflies, you will discover a glass encasing preserving gorgeous mollusks that can still be discovered along Florida’s coastline. Can’t tell which bug is which? No problem! There is a handy guide right next to the exhibit to explain what each of the 67 bugs are. The bugs range from a variety of beetles and cockroaches to grasshoppers and crickets. This division of the Museum holds quite the collection of preserved bugs and butterflies. This section of the Museum includes preserved insects and butterflies, shells and teeth, along with the remains of a giant ground sloth, mastodon, and glyptodont that were found in our own backyard!

You can read more about the footprint finding on New Scientist (opens in new tab).The Museum of Arts and Sciences (MOAS) has dedicated a portion of the museum to the prehistory of Florida. But based on the discovery of the 23,000-year-old prints and the fact that ground sloths went extinct around 11,000 years ago, these once-splashy children’s prints were likely made between 23,000 and 11,000 years ago, Bennet said. It's challenging to date footprints without a detailed stratigraphy - or studying the rock layers - of the site and without finding any organic matter, which can be radiocarbon dated. And if work was walking across the former lake bed in order to track an animal, you would have taken your child with you.' 'In the past, you would have just taken your kid to work. The children and adults in the group were 'almost certainly' foragers who stuck together while searching for food, he added. 100,000-year-old Neanderthal footprints show children playing in the sand Ice Age giant sloths died in a pit of their own poop 10,000-year-old footprints show journey of squirmy toddler and caregiver 'We see children's tracks very frequently at White Sands,' most likely because, just like today's children, these youngsters raced around, leaving hundreds of footprints a day, Bennett said. The footprints are shallow, about 1.2 inches (3 cm) deep, but it seems that was deep enough for them to fill with water and intrigue the children. This combination of front and back paw gives the prints a kidney shape.Įach of the giant ground sloth footprints measures nearly 16 inches (40 centimeters) long, and the beast would have been anywhere from the size of a cow to as big as a bear, Bennet said.

'As it puts its forepaws down, the rear paw comes and steps on it,' he explained. Each sloth print is actually a double print, Bennet said. The now-extinct giant ground sloth, possibly Nothrotheriops, left its trackway after walking through the area on all fours. (Image credit: David Bustos Matthew Bennett) The ground sloth's print likely filled with water and soon became trampled by ice age children, who left their own footprints at the site. A digitally created image showing a section of the trackway left by the ground sloth.

Giant sloth size