Megatherium americanum skull fragment with teeth

3D Model

This is a 3D laser surface scan of a partial cranium with five molariforms preserved. The specimen has been sectioned horizontally on the left side, and vertically on the right side. Two fragments remain and are part of the Royal College of Surgeons and Down House (English Heritage) collections. This is a digital reconstruction of both fragments together.

This was collected on the 23rd September 1832 at Punta Alta in Argentina by Charles Darwin and is between 126,000 and 8,000 years old.

This has been scanned as part of the Natural History Museum’s Darwin Fossil Mammals digitisation project. Find out more www.nhm.ac.uk/darwinsfossils

What is Megatherium?

Specimen number: RCSHM/CO 3443 and ENGH: 88202309

Visit the dataset (https://doi.org/10.5519/0086786) and specimen record on the Museum’s Data Portal.