A girl made an impressive find in Chapadmalal: found remains of two glyptodonts almost 3 million years old. This animal caught the attention of Charles Darwin on his tour of Argentina and used it to support part of his theory of evolution.
Emily, 9 years old He was walking along the beach with his family and he noticed some small white dots on the sand. For this very reason, he called his parents to tell them regarding his discovery. Seeing that it was the remains of a prehistoric animal, the adults immediately called the Lorenzo Scaglia Municipal Museum of Natural Sciences.
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Immediately, the specialists Fernando Scaglia, Victoria Sarasa and Matías Taglioretti went to the place to verify the finding and, indeed, it was two glyptodonts. “The largest forms reach four meters in length and 1.5 meters in height and a weight of up to two tons.”, explained Taglioretti through a released statement.
In that sense, he added: “We went for one glyptodon and it quickly became two, plus a large amount of rodent remains scattered around the site that are very good indicators of the age of the deposits and the environments that existed in the past.”.
Glyptodonts and Darwin’s theory of evolution
Glyptodonts were armored animals that lived during the Pleistocene in this region of the continent. For his big shellthey are presented as the ancestors of armadillos.
During his visit to Argentina, Darwin carefully studied the species and used them to support his theory. In that sense, he was the one who introduced the animal to the world. However, following a few years, other specialists began to analyze the physical composition of this prehistoric animal.
Darwin and the crew that accompanied him on his expedition in the Beagle Channel commonly ate armadillos, so It didn’t take long for the scientist to establish the connections between glyptodons and these animals.
Its shell was made up of numerous bony plates with a polygonal outline in the shape of a rosette that joined to form a rigid shell.. Due to the great weight of its shells, it had a modification in its skeleton, since it had several fused dorsal and lumbar vertebrae.
Ground floor / ED
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