It's Finished!



 

Stone Age Kids Solve a Giant Mystery is finished!

I am pleased to announce that I have completed the book!

The book is fully illustrated and packed with animal and plant facts. Ell and Al follow the animal's footprints and use logical deduction to lure this creature out of its cave. They gather food from its diet in traditional stone age ways. They use tools from that time period to knock fruit and seeds from high trees. You can follow along with Ell and Al as they explore  North America during the stone age. Learn about the giant mystery animal that once lived along side humans. Keep informed on the release of the e-book by bookmarking this blog!

With that said, I want to share with you the secret animal!!

But first, let me give you some clues!



1. Like the title suggests, the animal is giant, a member of the megafauna group.

2. It lived in the Americas, both North America and South America.

3. It was quadrupedal but would occasionally be bipedal. 

This means it walked on all fours but could walk on its hind legs.

4. It only ate plants, seeds and fruits. It was a herbivore.

5. It had really long claws on both its front feet and back feet.

6. Some were hairy. Some were not. 

7. It was a mammal.

8. Scientists have recovered full skeletons.

9. It lived amongst humans.

10. Humans are considered the primary reason for its extinction.

11. Fossilized footprints confirm humans walked amongst this creature.

12. Scientists have recovered hair and DNA samples.

13. It typically had three toes, but one type had five toes.

14. It has a distant cousin living today.

 16. Most were terrestrial. They lived on land. A few were semiaquatic and spent a lot of time in the water.

17. Scientists have found fossilized poo or dung of this creature.

18. It had a long thick tail.

19. Humans hunted and ate this animal's meat.

20. When it walked on its hind feet, its weight was on the sides of its feet. Its rear claws curved prevented it from walking fully on its hind feet. It walked with a waddle side to side.

Now it's time to comment with your guess! 

Let me tell you a bit about the next adventure that the stone age kids are going on! They are headed into the mammoth steppe. Ell and Al are all dressed up to brave the cold and wind while they solve a hairy conundrum! You'll learn about the plants and megafauna that inhabited the mammoth steppe. You'll peak into Al's family's yurt and collect scientific samples with Ell. With three extinct mystery animals, Stone Age Kids Solve a Hairy Conundrum is bound to include a new favorite animal just for you. 

Okay! Here we go!

Are you ready?

Do you wanna know who our mystery animal is?

Did you guess...

A GIANT GROUND SLOTH!

The North American Giant Ground Sloth was about nine feet from nose to tail and weighed two thousand pounds. The South American giant ground sloth was up to twenty feet from nose to tail and weighed four thousand pounds. I initially was going to set my book in South America until I learned that those guys were hairless! Then I was like no thanks, I'll stick to the fuzzy shorter guys. Twenty feet though is as tall as a house, totally impressive. The more I learned about giant ground sloths, more I fell in love with them. 


Their longest claws were twelve inches long! They used those curvy claws to strip leaves from tree branches. Their thick tails helped support their weight while they stood on their hind legs to reach the higher parts of trees. 

Scientists found fossilized giant ground sloth footprints along side human ones in White Sands National Park in New Mexico. The prints were located in a dried lake bed. This discovery confirmed that giant ground sloths could and did walk on their hind feet. It also suggested that humans hunted these creatures because of the patterns of the steps. 



There were at least seven types of giant ground sloths. North America had: Nothrotheriops, Megalonyx, Paramylodon, Eremotherium, and Glossotherium. South America had Megatherium which was twenty feet tall and hairless and Thalassocnus which swam off the Pacific coast. This ground sloth had five toes, ate seagrass and seaweed, and used its tail for balancing and diving. 

That's all for now! Thank you for reading and learning about giant ground sloths with me! I hope you find these gentle giants as adorable and fascinating as I do! Keep checking back for book updates and new content! Hopefully, Stone Age Kids Solve a Giant Mystery will be available in e-book form before the end of 2022! 


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