Photo: national geographic
Scientists have uncovered a vast network of underground tunnels in Brazil and Argentina that cannot be explained by lava flows or natural erosion. Researchers say these structures, some stretching up to 600 meters long, were carved during the Ice Age by giant ground sloths the size of modern elephants, reports Daily Galaxy.
In total, more than 1,500 so-called “paleoburrows” with arched ceilings and smooth walls have been documented, the largest located in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The team believes the massive herbivores used their powerful forelimbs with curved claws to dig the burrows as shelters, possibly to hide from early human hunters.
Fossilized sloth and human footprints previously found in White Sands National Park, New Mexico, support the theory that humans hunted these giant creatures.
