Jefferson's ground sloth has arrived at my local library!
#sloths #libraries
@mtechman@mastodon.ie ground sloths my beloved
@mtechman This does give me the feeling of wanting to give it a hug though it'll totally destroy me as a bear does.
I would like to bring this giant ground sloth to the attention of both #monsterdon and @gotosocial :
https://mastodon.ie/@mtechman/112752900609450817 / @mtechman
@gnomon @gotosocial it's Claude :)
I love this. The closest I can think of close to home is the overstuffed Horniman Walrus....
"When Victorian taxidermists received a strange creature with heavy folds of grooved skin, they thought all those wrinkles needed to be smoothed out. And so the Horniman Museum’s walrus, as with so many taxidermy works made by those who hadn’t yet glimpsed the dead animal in its living state, became its own sort of walrus — heavily overstuffed until he seems about to burst, and not a wrinkle over his taut skin."
@TheBreadmonkey How could they slouch around on beaches without nice wrinkles, etc? I have to go do more visa work ...but if you have time to look at sloth thread, there's a nice link to a student project re trees with defenses against giant ground sloths.
@mtechman This is real? reminds me of a good (german) audioplay:
https://www.hoerspielprojekt.de/music/mole-1/
@mtechman not sure if small door or huge sloth
@mtechman what a cutie! also, that won't cause any kids to have nightmares... nope.
@mapsquatch plant eater...but you're right, those claws!
@mtechman love him/her!
@johnlorimer Claude! I had no idea it would be this big.
@mtechman amazing really. Our TV station ABC has been broadcasting a show about our large Wombats and Kangaroos from the same era.
@johnlorimer now I want to look that up!
@mtechman This is a link, but it is probably region locked. First episode was excellent.
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/megafauna-what-killed-australia-s-giants/series/1/video/SC2313H001S00
@johnlorimer thx so much! I got VPN last week and I have been watching Utopia...im going to try this show tomorrow. Looks excellent!
@mtechman oh, brilliant!
@mtechman I wish this was at my library.
@mtechman RUUUUNNN!!! RUUUUN!!!!
@ai6yr I don't want to get trampled by a leaf eater! Why is this starting to sound like hippos!
@mtechman
That's awesome! I love libraries 
@ldmay65 I have a lifelong love for libraries! (Starting when we came to America...)
@benjaminoakes I love that it is a student project - thanks so much!
Last Summer I cut myself on a young honey locust and looked it up.
The giant thorns were a defense against these giant sloth!
https://bygl.osu.edu/node/959
@mrblissett Thank you!! And I love that it is an Ohio State site :)
@mtechman
You're welcome!
Sloth story:
When my son was little, I read him a book __When Animals Kiss Goodnight__ . Momma & baby sloth hang from a tree and kiss *very slowly* , but my son would turn the book upside down to make the sloths right side up.
I took him to the zoo and showed him the upside down sloths. He stopped turning the book after that!
@mrblissett That book came out after my time hosting toddler storytimes at Houston PL...I would have used it! So sweet that cover has elephants.
@mtechman
He loves elephants too!
Ok I like the broad bridge of their nose and their diamond ears!
@mrblissett elephants are the best...unlike hippos :(
(I lived in E. Africa on and off from 0 to 11.)
Blood-red blood sweat.
Giant, angry, maw, scat.
@mtechman Whoa! That's a big one.
@tsturm I read that it is the youngest (most recent?) and largest.
@mtechman Can you imagine stumbling through dense undergrowth in a forest and coming face-to-face with this fluffy friend? 
@mtechman What an absolute unit. Now I want to be a ground sloth!
Given the amount of time I've spent sitting and reading, a giant sloth would seem to be the perfect mascot for a library.
@catselbow I'm in the middle of 3 books right now...and yup.
@mtechman A prime candidate for de-extinction in my opinion.
@mtechman. A moment of silence for the Extinct Jefferson Sloth. Roaming North America just 11,000 years ago. #extinction, #sloth, #megafauna.
@Pollinators Yes, and your area would have had it too - the youngest and biggest of the bunch. P.S. I just made a list for people I follow in MN, now that one of my Irish cousins is moving there this week :)
@mtechman. Excellent. Biodiversity is healthy. #biodiversity, #BiodiversityStripes, #minnesota.
@mtechman. Welcome to Minnesota mastodon.
@Pollinators Thank you! My good friend just moved to Chicago, my daughter and SIL live in Madison, and now I have a reason for visiting MN :)