"How Aquatic Sloths Adapted to Their New Life in the Sea" Topic

"For four million years, Peru's ocean shores hosted several species of large aquatic sloths. It goes without saying that we wish these creatures were still around. But they've been extinct for about four million years.

Luckily, there are lots of sloth fossils left at a site in Peru known as the Pisco Formation, roughly 500 kilometers south of Lima. Here, the fossils tell the story of critters that gradually became more aquatic – in essence, reversing the evolutionary trend that saw our distant ancestors emerge from the sea and colonize the land.

Recently, a team of scientists surveyed Peruvian sloth fossils belonging to five different species of Thalassocnus. The animals lived from 8 to 4 million years ago. The team determined that these fossils show clear signs of one bony adaptation you might expect to see in animals returning to the sea: Later sloths have denser bones, a trait that would have made them less buoyant and more able to get down to the seafloor to snack on plants without wasting a lot of energy…"

Full article here.
link

Amicalement
Armand

I'd never even heard of aquatic sloths before. Very cool, especially how the fossils show the return to the sea.

Amson also points out that the data suggest such adaptations can occur over a period of only several million years – an evolutionary eyeblink.

That's amazing.

This would be a cool creature to throw at time-travelers or VSF adventurers in a game.

Happy you enjoyed the article my friend!. (smile).

Amicalement
Armand