#paleoburrow

[allosaurusrock]

Just learned about something very very cool that I’m shocked I didn’t know about before- Paleoburrows.

These are giant tunnels, mostly found in Brazil. Over 1,500 of them are documented.

It was originally assumed that they were dug by indigenous people, and many of them were repurposed into human shelters at some point, but we now believe they were built by prehistoric megafauna.

We know this because of distinct claw marks along the walls of the caverns, unlike anything humans have produced.

They come in a variety of sizes.

The smaller ones were probably dug by large armadillos, such as Holmesina.

The larger could have been dug by giant ground sloths like Glossotherium.

Thank you for reading, I just thought this was cool and wanted to share.

Sources and credits after the cut

Additional photos:

Additional photos:

#paleoblr #long post #glossotherium #sloth #paleontology #holmesina #paleoburrow #burrow #cave #animals #biology

[glennh-s]

#giant sloths #megafauna #paleontology #megafauna paleoburrow #mysterious tunnels

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil's mysterious tunnels made by giant sloths

These tunnels were once believed to hide religious fortunes deep in their chambers, but the real treasure is found in who – or what – created them.

In 2009, a farmer was driving through his corn field in the south of Brazil when he suddenly felt his tractor sink and lurch to one side, making the vehicle shudder to a halt. He jumped out and saw the wheel had sunk deep into the dry soil.

Much to the farmer's shock, the tractor had broken through what looked like top of an underground cavity. Hearing about this unusual find, researchers came to investigate and were surprised to find a tunnel nearly 2m high by almost 2m wide and about 15m long running across the field and right under the farmer's house. Deep claw marks embedded into the walls indicated its past occupant was not human.

The farmer had stumbled upon a puzzling subject in palaeontology that is still unfolding today. He'd uncovered a megafauna paleoburrow, a prehistoric tunnel dug through rock by what Luiz Carlos Weinschutz, a geologist and one of the scientists who visited the farmer's property, concluded was the work of a giant ground sloth or giant armadillo from at least 10,000 years ago.

These giant ground sloths, described in one paper as "a hamster the size of an elephant", were far removed from today's unhurried, tree-dwelling ones. They grew up to 4m long and walked on all fours, although research suggests some could stand and move bipedally. Almost 100 different species of sloths roamed the Americas between 15 million to 10,000 years ago alongside car-sized giant armadillos that also dug long tunnels through rocks in Brazil.

Continue reading.

#brazil #science #biology #paleontology #mod nise da silveira #image description in alt

[hexjulia]

Paleoburrow would be a good bandname

#who doesnt want to be associated with giant ground sloths

[focusonthegoodnews]

Get a glimpse of southern Brazil's paleoburrows — dug by prehistoric animals

Get a glimpse of southern Brazil’s paleoburrows — dug by prehistoric animals

Good News Notes: “A “paleoburrow” is a tunnel made by a prehistoric animal, likely an armadillo or an extinct, giant ground sloth, depending on the size of the hole. These extinct sloths were huge, some the size of a modern-day elephant. They dug very large tunnels. Almost 2,000 paleoburrows have been found across South America, mostly in the Brazilian states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do…

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#animals #Argentina #Brazil #discovery #Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul #good news #happy #history #joy #kindness #Morro Grande Paleoburrow #paleoburrow #Paleoburrows Project #paleontology #Porto Alegre #positive #prehistoric #Rio Grande do Sul #Santa Catarina #Sao Paulo State University #South America #Tres Barras #tunnels #Uruguay

[typhlonectes]

Brazil Is Home to Prehistoric Underground Tunnels Created by Giant Ground Sloths

While you may have heard of underground cities built by humans, what about huge tunnels dug by giant prehistoric sloths? Though it may sound outlandish, it's actually what one finds across southern Brazil. Known as paleoburrows, these enormous tunnels can measure up to 2,000 feet long and over six feet tall. Shockingly, the existence of these caves was relatively unknown until a Brazilian geologist noticed something while driving down the highway.

In the early 2000s, Professor Heinrich Frank of the University of Rio Grande do Sul was driving by a construction site when something caught his eye. There was a strange hole that had been revealed by the site's excavators and Frank couldn't help wonder where it led. A few weeks later he made his way back and entered the hole. Crawling down the 15-foot-long opening, he noticed claw marks across the ceiling of the cave.

Given his expertise, he knew that no natural phenomenon would create a cave with those characteristics. And though he'd never heard of a paleoburrow, he did conclude that it must have been dug out by a large animal. So what is a paleoburrow? Defined as a shelter excavated by a now-extinct animal from the prehistoric era, it's believed that the Brazilian tunnels were created by giant ground sloths or armadillos...

Read more: https://mymodernmet.com/paleoburrow-giant-ground-sloth/

#ground sloth #prehistoric #sloth #mammal #animals #nature #south america #science

[pagansquare]

#paleontology #paleoburrows #brazil #south america #megafauna #discover magazine #pagan news beagle #earthy thursday

[illidanstr]

details http://www.ufrgs.br/paleotocas/Frank_et_al_2012.pdf

#paleontology #LOOK AT HOW COOL THIS IS.

[lindwurm-prince]

I want to live in a paleoburrow but I know I couldn’t do it without messing up the burrow :( maybe a replica

#me

[lamajaoscura]

#megafauna

[theemperorsfeather]

#extinct animals #burrows #giant burrows #south america

[colltales]

Earth Cavities

Earth Cavities: Worlds Inside, Real & Imagined, Offer Insights Into Human Psyche

Worlds Inside, Real & Imagined, Offer Insights Into Human Psyche ‘Why may we not suppose four ninths of our globe to be cavity?’ Edmond Halley’s 1692 Hollow Earth theory was rightly debunked for its faulty science. But it did lend, at least for a while, credence to a recurrent feature in ancient mythology, folklore, and legends. No pun intended but underneath it all, he too was drawn to the…

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#Arne Saknussemm #Atlas Obscura #Aurora Borealis #Charles de Gaulle #Dante Alighieri #Edmond Halley #Enlightenment Era #Hades #Halley Comet #Hang Son Doong #Hollow Earth #Jules Verne #Paleoburrows #Rick Wakeman #Sir Isaac Newton #UFO

[dreamzs338]

Giant Tunnels Dug by Massive Sloths

Giant Tunnels Dug by Massive Sloths

Deep inside Brazil, there are tunnels large enough for an individual to walk through. The tunnels are very neat symmetrical too have been caused by any known geologic process, may be lined with claw marks. These mammoth tunnels are perhaps the craft of giant ground sloths humongous “paleoburrows” that no longer walk the Earth. The largest tunnel measured 2,000 feet long, 6 feet tall and 3 to 5…

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#Brazil tunnels #dugs #large tunnels #Massive Sloths #mega tunnels #Mysterious Places #Novo Hamburgo #Paleoburrows #sloths

[hackernewsrobot]

Get Lost in Mega-Tunnels Dug by South American Megafauna

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2017/03/28/paleoburrows-south-america Comments

[rodzilla-world]

Screw your "lab safety", I want super powers.

Screw your “lab safety”, I want super powers.

  There are large caves in South America which had been dug by extinct ground sloths. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2017/03/28/paleoburrows-south-america   Little girl mistakes an abandoned water heater for a robot.       Arnold Schwarzenegger posted a video congratulating the winners of the Special Olympics World Games.…

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[saltpeanutslive]

(Via r/todayilearned.)

#Reddit #todayilearned #Today I Learned #TIL #facts #trivia #interesting