Editing Megatherium (section)

=== Size ===
[[File:Megatherium size comparison.png|thumb|270x270px|Size of ''Megatherium americanum'' compared to a human]]
''M. americanum'' is one of the largest known ground sloths, with a total body length of around {{Convert|6|m|ft}}.<ref name=":92">{{Cite journal |last=Naish |first=Darren |date=November 2005 |title=Fossils explained 51: Sloths |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2451.2005.00538.x |journal=Geology Today |language=en |volume=21 |issue=6 |pages=232–238 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2451.2005.00538.x |issn=0266-6979}}</ref> [[Volumetric]] analysis suggests that a full grown ''M. americanum'' weighed around {{Convert|3700|-|4000|kg|lbs}}, comparable to an Asian elephant.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Brassey |first1=Charlotte A. |last2=Gardiner |first2=James D. |date=August 2015 |title=An advanced shape-fitting algorithm applied to quadrupedal mammals: improving volumetric mass estimates |journal=Royal Society Open Science |language=en |volume=2 |issue=8 |pages=150302 |doi=10.1098/rsos.150302 |issn=2054-5703 |pmc=4555864 |pmid=26361559|bibcode=2015RSOS....250302B }}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Casinos |first=Adrià |date=March 1996 |title=Bipedalism and quadrupedalism in Megatheriurn: an attempt at biomechanical reconstruction |url=https://www.idunn.no/doi/10.1111/j.1502-3931.1996.tb01842.x |journal=Lethaia |language=en |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=87–96 |doi=10.1111/j.1502-3931.1996.tb01842.x |bibcode=1996Letha..29...87C |issn=0024-1164}}</ref><ref name="pmid24676170">{{cite journal | vauthors = Fariña RA, Czerwonogora A, di Giacomo M | title = Splendid oddness: revisiting the curious trophic relationships of South American Pleistocene mammals and their abundance | journal = Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências | volume = 86 | issue = 1 | pages = 311–31 | date = March 2014 | pmid = 24676170 | doi = 10.1590/0001-3765201420120010 | doi-access = free }}</ref> The Late Pleistocene Andean-Altiplano ''Pseudomegatherium'' species ''Megatherium celendinense'' was likely comparable in size. These species were only rivalled in size amongst ground sloths by the closely related ''[[Eremotherium]]'' and the distantly related ''[[Lestodon]]''. The Chilean ''Pseudomegatherium'' species ''M. sundti'' was much smaller, with an estimated body mass of only {{Convert|1253|kg|lbs}}, with the Peruvian ''Megatherium urbinai,'' Bolivian ''Megatherium tarijense'' and the Chilean ''Megatherium medinae'' (all also belonging to ''Pseudomegatherium'') also having a considerably smaller body size than ''M. americanum.''<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last=McDonald |first=H. Gregory |date=June 2023 |title=A Tale of Two Continents (and a Few Islands): Ecology and Distribution of Late Pleistocene Sloths |journal=Land |language=en |volume=12 |issue=6 |pages=1192 |doi=10.3390/land12061192 |doi-access=free |issn=2073-445X}}</ref> The Pliocene ''Megatherium'' (''Megatherium'') species ''M. altiplanicum'' has been estimated to weigh {{Convert|977-1465|kg|lbs}}.<ref name=":3">Saint-André P.-A. & de Iuliis G. 2001. — [https://sciencepress.mnhn.fr/en/periodiques/geodiversitas/23/4/le-plus-petit-et-le-plus-ancien-representant-du-genre-megatherium-cuvier-1796-xenarthra-tardigrada-megatheriidae-du-pliocene-de-l-altiplano-bolivien The smallest and most ancient representative of the genus ''Megatherium'' Cuvier, 1796 (Xenarthra, Tardigrada, Megatheriidae), from the Pliocene of the Bolivian Altiplano]. ''Geodiversitas'' 2001 (4): 625–645.</ref>