Evidência de vida gregária em paleotocas atribuídas a mylodontidae (preguiças-gigantes)

Abstract

This article presents evidence of gregarious behavior in paleoburrows attributed to giant sloths. Paleoburrows are biogenic structures in the shape of galleries and halls excavated by extinct giant mammals that lived in the Pliocene and Pleistocene. In the case discussed here, they were excavated in rocks composed by neoproterozoic metadiamictites with hematite of the Macaúbas Group (Nova Aurora Formation). The rocks, of glacial origin, underwent metamorphism, were strongly cemented by hematite and exhibit high hardness. In the north of Minas Gerais, were identified new paleoburrows distributed in a grouped manner, located in valleys with steep slopes embedded in geological faults. In each group, the paleoburrows are arranged on both sides of the valley, facing at each other. At the walls and roofs of the paleoburrows, there are hundreds of claw marks, forming parallel double marks and intertwined marks. Silicone molds of the marks were compared with hand bones of Valgipes sp. (Mylodontidae) deposited in the collection of PUC-MG; the size and morphology of the double marks allowed to attribute these paleoburrows to digging mylodontids (two-toed giant sloths). At the lateral walls of the paleoburrows we identified several polished surfaces of elliptical shape, each one with a diameter of approximately 2.4 m. These polished surfaces aroused due to the abrasive action of the giant sloths’ fur at their resting place. A single paleoburrow may show from 1 to 3 of these elliptical surfaces, suggesting a gregarious behavior of the sloths, who slept together in these spaces.