Get Lost in Mega-Tunnels Dug by South American Megafauna

[BADecker]

Get Lost in Mega-Tunnels Dug by South American Megafauna

Unable to contact the landowner, Adamy couldn't study the cave in detail during that first encounter. But a preliminary inspection revealed it wasn't the work of any natural geological process. He'd been in other caves nearby, formed by water within the same geology underlying this particular hillside. Those caves looked nothing like this large, round passage with a smooth floor.

Read more at https://globalwarming-arclein.blogspot.ca/2017/09/get-lost-in-mega-tunnels-dug-by-south.html.

[merchantofzeny]

Nope, I don't think megafauna made that. Sure there were carapaces discovered but I doubt their claws are strong enough to dig through stone that thick.

[Sithara007]

Nope, I don't think megafauna made that. Sure there were carapaces discovered but I doubt their claws are strong enough to dig through stone that thick.

I completely agree with you. For me, it looks like some of the indigenous inhabitants carved it. By the way, are you sure that it is stone? Even if it is stone, there is a possibility that it is not a hard one. May be a soft type of rock such as Limestone or mudrock. Because even if the natives carved it, we need to remember that they didn't had access to metals.

[BADecker]

Note that the article says that megafauna was not the only thing that took part in making the tunnels. From the article:

Frank believes the biggest burrows – measuring up to five feet in diameter – were dug by ground sloths. He and his colleagues consider as possibilities several genera that once lived in South America and whose fossil remains suggest adaptation for serious digging: Catonyx, Glossotherium and the massive, several-ton Lestodon. Others believe that extinct armadillos such as Pampatherium, Holmesina or Propraopus, though smaller than the sloths, were responsible for even the largest burrows.



Regardless, the sheer size of the burrows is something that Frank and his colleagues are still trying to explain. Whether prehistoric sloths or armadillos were responsible, the burrows are far larger than would be necessary to shelter the animals that dug them from predators or the elements.

[JaRViZZ]

It seems to me that the ancient sloth was able to dig himself like home. As far as I know, before some animals were larger than now.

[merchantofzeny]

Note that the article says that megafauna was not the only thing that took part in making the tunnels. From the article:

Frank believes the biggest burrows – measuring up to five feet in diameter – were dug by ground sloths. He and his colleagues consider as possibilities several genera that once lived in South America and whose fossil remains suggest adaptation for serious digging: Catonyx, Glossotherium and the massive, several-ton Lestodon. Others believe that extinct armadillos such as Pampatherium, Holmesina or Propraopus, though smaller than the sloths, were responsible for even the largest burrows.



Regardless, the sheer size of the burrows is something that Frank and his colleagues are still trying to explain. Whether prehistoric sloths or armadillos were responsible, the burrows are far larger than would be necessary to shelter the animals that dug them from predators or the elements.

I LOLed at step #2, ahaha! 

[joebrook]

This pictures shows the tunnel was rather made by human beings not any animal whatsoever, its rather smooth looking and i doubt that the megafauna would even have the mind to even do that.