The dark, gruesome mud that surrounded the skeleton was one of the key components in preserving the remains. This infamous Ice Age mammal was discovered at a construction site in Daytona Beach on Thanksgiving weekend 2011. This impressive piece of Daytona Beach history can be seen at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in the Prehistory of Florida Gallery.

Pollen trapped in the black organic soil was extracted and could still be identified after 130,000 years. The seeds of several trees revealed that this was a swamp forest near a marsh. Based on their knowledge of the newly-discovered plant life, scientists were able to piece together the entire environment that supported the enormous sloth and other animals. Shockingly, one of the most impressive finds of the excavation was the plant material. Gordon Edmond stated that the skeleton of the Giant Ground Sloth is the best preserved and most complete fossil collection of this species ever found in the history of North America. Along with the sloth, experts also discovered the remains of about 50 other species of animals, including some that are still alive today, such as the deer, bobcat, and raccoon.ĭr. Gordon Edmund, Curator of Paleontology at Canada’s Royal Ontario Museum, brought the remains up to Canada where he identified and reconstructed the sloth for the Museum of Art and Sciences.ĭue to the remains being found 12-feet below the ground, experts were able to identify the other animals that lived around the sloth, including a mammoth, mastodon, and the rare Cuvieronius Elephant that roamed with tapir, capybara, palaeolama, and a glyptodont (a nine-foot armadillo). This Giant Ground Sloth was discovered in October 1975 at the bottom of a retention pond in Reed Canal Park, now referred to as “The Daytona Beach Bone Bed.” Workers and volunteers spend two-and-a-half years searching for the bones of the sloth. Thankfully, the human race was non-existent 130,000 years ago, during the era of the Giant Ground Sloth. Even though the sloth is a vegetarian, it would not change the fact that actually seeing the massive mammal would be quite terrifying. Imagine a 13-foot, three to five ton mammal strolling through the city of Daytona Beach. Along with the giant ground sloth, this prehistoric mammal was discovered at Reed Canal Park back in 1975. Their legs were short and stout, the perfect size to hold the weight of the shell. This unique species was almost covered head-to-toe in armor that was made up of about 1,000 osteoderms, which are bony plates about 2.5 centimeters thick.

They could grow up to seven-feet and weigh about half a ton. Their size and mass is the equivalent to a small car. The glyptodont is another prehistoric mammal that lived almost two million years ago. The mastodon was discovered almost five years ago in a construction site in Daytona Beach. It took volunteers and workers about two-and-a-half years to uncover the remains. The giant ground sloth is the most complete skeleton in the world and was discovered just three miles south of MOAS. The highly impressive giant ground sloth and mastodon are quite the display. They live in both saltwater and freshwater ecosystems and date back to 550 million years ago. There are over 85,000 species of mollusks, which makes it the second most diversified kind of organism behind insects. These mollusks are considered a house for the invertebrate animals that live inside them. The butterfly exhibit is quite pleasant and is composed of butterflies ranging from all sorts of shapes and sizes.Īs you begin to walk in to the Prehistory of Florida Gallery, along with the insects and butterflies, you will discover a glass encasing preserving gorgeous mollusks that can still be discovered along Florida’s coastline. Can’t tell which bug is which? No problem! There is a handy guide right next to the exhibit to explain what each of the 67 bugs are. The bugs range from a variety of beetles and cockroaches to grasshoppers and crickets.

This division of the Museum holds quite the collection of preserved bugs and butterflies. This section of the Museum includes preserved insects and butterflies, shells and teeth, along with the remains of a giant ground sloth, mastodon, and glyptodont that were found in our own backyard! The Museum of Arts and Sciences (MOAS) has dedicated a portion of the museum to the prehistory of Florida.

Giant sloth size