586 



CENOZOIC ERA— AGE OF MAMMALS. 



have been able to stand on its hind-legs and tail, while it used its long 

 free-moving arms, terminated with hands a yard long, to tear down 



Fig. 955.— Megatherium Cuvieri. 



branches on which it fed. The great skeleton represented above is 

 eighteen feet long, and its thigh-bones are three times as thick as those 

 of an elephant. The grinding surface of its molar teeth (it had no 



Fig. 956.— Lower Jaw of a Megatherium, showing the Gradual Surface of the Teeth (after Owen) 



Fig. 957.— Claw-Core of a Megalonyx, x £ (drawn from a cast of the original). 



