Metabolic skinflint or spendthrift? Insights into ground sloth integument and thermophysiology revealed by biophysical modeling and clumped isotope paleothermometry.

ABSTRACT: Remains of megatheres have been known since the 18th -century and were among the first megafaunal vertebrates to be studied. While several examples of preserved integument show a thick coverage of fur for smaller ground sloths living in cold climates such as Mylodon and Nothrotheriops, comparatively very little is known about megathere skin. Assuming a typical placental mammal metabolism, it was previously hypothesized that megatheres would have had little-to-no fur as they achieved giant body sizes. Here the "hairless model of integument" is tested using geochemical analyses to estimate body temperature to generate novel models of ground sloth metabolism, fur coverage, and paleoclimate with Niche Mapper software. The simulations assuming metabolic activity akin to those of m

SUBMITTER: Deak MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11732909 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature