Huge paleo-burrows discovered at Amazonia

+ UPDATE. 08AUGUST2015 VIDEO BRAZIL. Rondonia Paleo-burrows http://brazilweirdnews.blogspot.com.br/2015/08/rondonia-paleo-burrows-brazil-video.html

BRAZIL. AMAZON REGION. RONDONIA state. A team from the Mineral Resources Research Company (CPRM) - led by geologist Amilcar Adamy, found - at the region of Ponta do Abunã , the first paleotoca (paleo-burrows, of extinct animals) located at Brazilian Amazon region.

Ponta do Abunã is situated the border of Rondônia with the brazilian state of Acre and Bolivia. The structure of the tunnels drawn attention for its circular modeling, their large spaces. The length of the tunnels still could not be determined.


 
Ground sloth, Megatherium

Well kept, with no major obstacles to the movement of people, the paleotoca has claw marks that indicate that the place was excavated by big animals from the South American Pleistocene megafauna, possibly a giant sloth (Giant sloth, Megatherium), extinct for about 10,000 years.

Ponta do Abunã. In medium, the tunnels have widths of four meters and heights of 2 meters. The extensions explored until now  often reach 200 meters.

Paleo-burrow in Boqueirão do Leão, Rio Grande  do Sul state

At Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul is the state with the largest number of identified paleo-burrows. More than a thousand., according to data from Paleotocas Project, which brings together researchers from UFRS and Unesp, these paleotocas are unique in South America.

In Morro Grande, Santa Catarina state - have been identified tunnels with 150 meters length and about 1.5 meters in diameter distributed over 4 floors. The site is on a hill and has at least eight exits.

SOURCES

CARVALHO, Cleide. Caverna escavada por mamíferos gigantes é descoberta na Amazônia
O GLOBO, 31.07.2015
[http://oglobo.globo.com/sociedade/caverna-escavada-por-mamiferos-gigantes-descoberta-na-amazonia-17032201]
CPRM descobre túnel de animais extintos na região de Rondônia e Amazônia
CPRM/BR, 31.07.2015
[http://www.cprm.gov.br/publique/cgi/cgilua.exe/sys/start.htm?infoid=3720&sid=48&tpl=printerview]
BUCHMANN, Francisco Sekiguchi. CARON, Felipe. LOPES, Renato Pereira. ICNOFÓSSEIS
(PALEOTOCAS E CROTOVINAS) ATRIBUÍDOS A MAMÍFEROS EXTINTOS NO SUDESTE E SUL DO BRASIL
[http://sigep.cprm.gov.br/propostas/Paleotoca_de_Cristal_RS_Artigo.pdf]

Megafauna - Bone of Giant Armadillo Found at Brazil

Photo: Francisco Firmino/Irauçuba News

BRAZIL, CEARA state. At a place named São Francisco das Almas, Juá district, at the city of Irauçuba, distant 150 km from Fortaleza, capital of the state of Ceara (northeast of the country), two men, while were digging a pit, they found a enormous bone that belonged to a creature of the megafauna that lived at Brazil there, at least, 15,000 years when these creatures were extinct. 

These giant animals dominated the Earth during Pleistocene, period of the geological history of the planet, in a past that dating back more to 2 million of years ago.

According to the professor of the Department of Palaeontology of the Federal University of Ceara (Departamento de Paleontologia da Universidade Federal do Ceará), Marcio Mendes, the fossil - which was buried to a depth of 4 meters, is of a giant armadillo (in the brazilian portuguese language, the armadillo is called Tatu).

The Megafauna at Brazil reunited several species. One of these was the Pampatherium, the giant armadillo. With the size of a donkey, but much more robust, weighing about 100 to 200 kg, its shell had three ranges. 

3 - Pampatherium  4 - Glyptodon  5 - Panochthus. In comparative illustration, the dimensions of a Pampatherium confronted with the size of its relatives of the Megafauna and a man of medium height.. IMAGE SOURCE: [http://forum.zoologist.ru/viewtopic.php?pid=94820]

Different of the current armadillos, which are insectivorous, ants eaters, the Pampatherium was a herbivorous was not a digger of the soil . It existed there 700,000 years ago and disappeared 10,000 years ago. The Pampatherium belongs to the family of the Dasypodideos (armadillos). The specie found in San Francisco das Almas is called Pampatherium humboldti.

SOURCE: XEREZ, Gloria. Homem cava poço e encontra osso gigante de animal extinto no Ceará.

G1, published in 15/09/2012.

[http://g1.globo.com/ceara/noticia/2012/09/homem-cava-poco-e-encontra-osso-gigante-de-animal-extinto-no-ceara.html]