Megalonyx (Greek, "great-claw") is an extinct genus of ground sloths of the family Megalonychidae, native to North America. It evolved during the Pliocene Epoch and became extinct at the end of the Late Pleistocene, living from ~5 million to ~13,000 years ago. [3]

Nov 5, 2016 · Giant ground sloths (Megalonyx jeffersonii) stood about 10 feet tall. The Ancient Ozarks Natural History Museum says this mounted skeleton is the most complete and best preserved specimen ever ...

Feb 14, 2020 · He named his creature Megalonyx, which means “giant claw,” and he was sure it was some kind of lion. These were the early days of paleontology, when wild guesswork was commonplace in the scientific community. Jefferson even suspected family members of the Megalonyx still walked the Earth.

Feb 26, 2019 · The prototypical prehistoric sloth, the Giant Ground Sloth (genus name Megalonyx, pronounced MEG-ah-LAH-nix) was named by future American president Thomas Jefferson in 1797, after he examined some bones forwarded to him from a cave in West Virginia.

Oct 12, 2021 · The large clawed sloth, or Megalonyx, was a large ground dwelling sloth which grew to about 10 feet long and weighed roughly 2,200 pounds. Compared to the Shasta Ground Sloth, Megalonyx and had a more blocky-shaped head with an additional set of peg-like incisors in the upper and lower jaws.

Jefferson’s Megalonyx. For a quarter of a century, Megalonyx was a name by itself. Even though it had been formally published, it was nevertheless unofficial, since it had no “specific epithet,” or species name, to go with it.

Megalonyx is an extinct megafauna mammal which lived approximately 10 million to 10,000 years ago – from the Miocene through the Modern Period. It was first discovered in the late 18th century when Colonel John Stuart sent its fossils to Vice-President Thomas Jefferson.

Nov 10, 2021 · In 1804 Jefferson was credited as the discoverer of the Megalonyx, an animal that is indeed related to the sloth family, and in 1822 the French naturalist Anselme Desmarest gave the extinct animal its formal name: Megalonyx jeffersonii.

The Megalonyx skeleton is one of Ohio State’s most distinctive and recognizable images. Images or descriptions of it span an array of scientific papers, promotional literature, artistic imagery, and digital media (e.g., Figures 1, right, 2).

Megalonyx (meaning "large claw"), also known as the Jefferson's ground sloth, is an extinct genus of ground sloths of the family Megalonychidae endemic to North America from the Hemphillian of the Late Miocene through to the Rancholabrean of …