Skull of one-ton ground sloth found in Kansas
ELLIS COUNTY (KSNT) - The unearthing of a partial skull of a 10-foot-tall ground sloth has prompted a review of the history of the species in Kansas.
The paper, published by the Kansas Academy of Science on May 26, claims a mostly intact braincase of Megalonyx jeffersonii, also known as Jefferson's ground sloth, was discovered near Hays in Ellis County. The discovery helps flesh out the distribution of the species during the late Pleistocene.
The skull is estimated to be between 12,000-21,000 years old due to its discovery in a significant geological formation in Kansas.
Megalonyx jeffersonii was named after Thomas Jefferson, who recovered bones of the animal from a cave in West Virginia in the late 18th Century. Jefferson originally thought the fossils belonged to a giant cat based on the large claws he found, according to the Illinois State Museum.
The Illinois State Museum lists Megalonyx jeffersonii as being between 8-10 feet tall and weighing between 2,200-2,425 pounds. The animal was large and heavily built with large, blunt teeth. The animal's hip bones indicate it could stand on its hind legs which it probably used to strip leaves from trees with its large claws.
Megalonyx jeffersonii has a long geological history in Kansas, with records from the late Miocene to the late Pleistocene, according to the paper. The location of Megalonyx jeffersonii in Kansas was associated with river drainages, indicating a reliance on forests within the grassland habitat of the Great Plains.
As of this new publishing, the Megalonyx jeffersonii has been found in the following Kansas counties:
- Ellis County - 2025.
- Jewell County - 1995.
- Sedgewick County - 1985.
- Wyandotte County - 1979.
- Republic County - 1975.
- Wallace County - 1968.
- Johnson County - 1967.
- Meade County - 1938.
- McPherson County - 1892.
- Greenwood County - Unpublished date.
- Rawlins County - Unpublished date.
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