PREHISTORIC ANIMALS 



439 





u 



FlG. 416. Didus ineptus, the extinct dodo; color gray, with 

 yellow wing and tail feathers ; natural size, 80 cm. high ; weight, 

 12.5 kg. (From Ludwig-Leunis' Synopsis der Thierkunde.) 



Many other extinct marsupials have been found in the Aus- 

 tralian bone-caves, often of gigantic size, and also the bones 

 of almost all the 

 living represen- 

 tatives. 



The Edentata 

 appear to have 

 attained their 

 greatest develop- 

 ment in the Post- 

 tertiary period ; 

 their remains are 

 confined to North 

 and South Amer- 

 ica. Among the 

 most remarka- 

 ble are the now 

 extinct ground 

 sloths, which at- 

 tained a gigantic size, lived exclusively on the ground instead 

 of in trees as do the sloths to-day, and fed on plants and the 



leaves of trees. The 

 genus Megatherium 

 attained a length of 

 from three and a half 

 to five and a half 

 meters, and its bones 

 were more massive 

 than those of the 

 elephant. The ge- 

 nus Mylodon (Fig. 

 417) was smaller, 

 about three meters 

 and a half in length, 

 but its habits were 

 much like those of 

 the Megatherium ; 

 these animals lived 

 in both North and South America, and did not exist later than 



FlG. 417. Mylodon robustus, a gigantic fossil Edentate resem- 

 bling the ant-eaters and the sloth; restored. (After Owen, 

 from Parker and Haswell's Text-book.) 



