Long before today’s tree-dwelling sloths, a 4-ton giant roamed South America — and it may have stood and fought like a bear.

Giant sloths with razor-sharp claws and as large as Asian bull elephants once roamed the Earth, snacking on leaves at the tops of trees with a prehensile tongue. Now, scientists have figured out why ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Close up of a fuzzy sloth face Massive Megatherium sloths once stood as large as Asian elephants, ripping foliage off treetops ...

Most people are familiar with modern sloths — slow-moving, tree-dwelling mammals that digest food slowly and descend only occasionally. Their closest living relatives are anteaters and armadillos, a ...

Ancient sloths lived in trees, on mountains, in deserts, boreal forests and open savannahs. These differences in habitat are primarily what drove the wide difference in size between sloth species.