ground sloth

noun

|Updated on: 9 Jun 2018

Definition of ground sloth

: any of various often huge extinct American edentates related to the recent sloths

Recent Examples of ground sloth from the Web

Humans drove North American ground sloths to extinction around 11,000 years ago.

— ben guarino, BostonGlobe.com, "Fossil footprints show a human chasing an extinct giant sloth," 26 Apr. 2018
Sometime between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago, a giant ground sloth—a hairy, lumbering beast that weighed as much as a metric ton—wandered along a lakeshore in what is now southern New Mexico.

— sid perkins, Science | AAAS, "Ancient human-sloth hunt hinted at in 15,000-year-old footprints," 25 Apr. 2018
More than 10,000 years ago, a band of hunter-gatherers chased a group of giant ground sloths along the shores of an ancient lake, and their footprints still preserve the story.

— kiona n. smith, Ars Technica, "Over 10,000 years ago, weapons at White Sands were aimed at giant sloths," 26 Apr. 2018
The largest burrows, however, were likely made by giant ground sloths, extinct cousins of modern sloths that could grow to more than 1,700 pounds.

— National Geographic, "6 Amazing Structures Built by Surprising Creatures," 7 May 2018
In the new study, Matthew Bennett, a sedimentologist at Bournemouth University in Poole, U.K., and his colleagues focused on the footprints and trackways made by giant ground sloths.

— sid perkins, Science | AAAS, "Ancient human-sloth hunt hinted at in 15,000-year-old footprints," 25 Apr. 2018
The clincher, however, may be trackways at the site that include human footprints inside the larger footprints of the giant ground sloths.

— sid perkins, Science | AAAS, "Ancient human-sloth hunt hinted at in 15,000-year-old footprints," 25 Apr. 2018
Smilodon, a saber-toothed cat around the size of today’s African lion, skulked across the grasslands in search of ground sloths and mammoths.

— jason g. goldman, Scientific American, "In 200 Years Cows May Be the Biggest Land Mammals on the Planet," 20 Apr. 2018
There were massive mammoths three times bigger than modern-day elephants, giant ground sloths up to 20 feet in length, and strange, armadillo-like beasts known as glyptodons that were roughly the size of a VW bus.

— deborah netburn, latimes.com, "The more humans spread, the smaller other mammals get. Elephants, rhinos and hippos had better watch out," 20 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ground sloth.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.