They just do n’t makeslothslike they used to . elephantine ground slothsfrom the Ice Age wielded razor - sharp pincer and stood 7 feet tall , and unexampled evidence suggests that humans — even children — stalk and run them .
By analyzing fossilized footprints found in the salt flatcar of New Mexico , research worker at Bournemouth University in the UK figured out how prehistoric humans managed to outsmart these furred behemoths . The track , which are between 10,000 and 15,000 years old , show two overlapping sets of footprints belonging to both humans and wildcat . investigator derive that these former huntsman aligned their footprints with the sloth ’s to avoid detection and snarf up on their target . The findings were published in the journalScience Advances .
" Getting two set of fossil footprints that interact , that show you the behavioral ecology , is very , very rare , " Matthew Bennett , one of the researchers at Bournemouth , toldReuters .
They also found another set of human footprints , leading investigator to believe that hunters traveled in pack and ganged up on the sloth , with one chemical group distracting the brute from a safe distance while another attempted to put down a fatal setback . The clue was in marks they dub " lam roundabout , " which intimate that the sloth rise up on its hind legs and dangle around to defend itself . Anywhere they found flailing circle , human footprints followed .
The comportment of children ’s tracks also show up that hunt was a household affair , but it probably was n’t as merriment ( or as safe ) as going to a mod - twenty-four hours zoo . The prints were taken from New Mexico ’s White Sands National Monument , which has the " largest concentration of human and Ice Age giant megafauna prints in the Americas , " grant to research worker . The remote part of the car park where they carry their research is not open to the world .
Modern sloths are related to the gargantuan ground sloth , which drop dead extinct about 11,000 years ago , in all likelihood due to over - hunt by man , scientists say . The ossified footprints were digitalise and preserved for future research using 3-D modeling techniques .
