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A tooth discovery revealed more about the lives of lazy giants like what they ate and the environment in which they lived.
UNITED STATES TODAY & # 39; HUI

They were fat, hairy and weird, and we now know a lot more about the world in which the lazy giants lived 27,000 years ago, according to a new study.

All this is due to the discovery of fossils of one of the creatures, recently discovered in a gulf filled with water in Central America.

Laziness died at the bottom of this chasm and its remains remained in place until 2014. It was then that divers discovered fragments of tooth and other bones while that. they were looking for ancient Maya artifacts in the pool, located in Cara Blanca, in central Belize.

The study of fossils allowed researchers to travel "in the past", revealing what the animal was eating, as well as the climate and the environment in which it was living – and possibly the reason why the species was gone.

The design of an artist of a battle between ancient humans and a giant lazy. It is based on evidence of the fossil record showing how human hunters have tracked a huge groundless laziness to distract them before attempting to carry a fatal blow. (Photo: Alex McClelland, University of Bournemouth)

By analyzing the 4-inch-long tooth fragment, which lasted more than a year of dental growth, scientists were able to recreate a year in lazy life.

The analysis revealed that the lazy giant went through a long dry season, which lasted for about seven months, between two short rainy seasons. He also revealed that the creature, which could grow to 12 feet tall, lived in a savannah rather than in a forest and consumed a variety of plants that differed between the dry and wet seasons.

Belize at that time was arid and barren, not at all like the jungle it is today.

Although the animals were herbivores, their diet was varied. They ate different foods depending on the dryness or the humidity. "We were able to find that this huge social creature was able to adapt quite easily to the dry climate, moving from its subsistence to an addiction of what was more available or more acceptable," said lead author of the study, Jean T. Larmon, of the University of Illinois. graduate student in anthropology.

More: Giant sloths with wolverine-like claws roamed America, and humans hunted them

"This supports the idea that lazy people had a varied diet," said Lisa Lucero, co-author of the study, also from the University of Illinois, who is studying the ancient Mayans of central Belize. "It helps to explain why they were so prevalent and why they lasted so long, it's probably because they were very adaptable."

Artistic representation of the skeleton of giant laziness, which reached 12 feet in height. (Photo: Julie McMahon's graphic)

The new discoveries "add to the evidence that many factors, in addition to the changing climate, have contributed to their extinction in the Americas," added Lucero. "One of these potential factors is the arrival of humans at the scene 12,000 to 13,000 years ago."

A study from last year revealed that humans probably hunted the lazy giant in the Americas at that time. However, we still do not know what role humans played in the fall of the lazy giants.

The study was published Wednesday in the peer reviewed journal Progress of science.

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