What If Giant Sloths Didn't Go Extinct?

[Music] sometimes it's nice to just kick back and take it slow really slow so what if evolution had the same mindset and decided to take its time before getting rid of some prehistoric creatures what if the giant sloth was still around what would it get up to in the 21st century could modern day humans even handle giant sloths and what does this have to do with my guacamole this is what if and here's what would happen if giant sloths didn't go extinct giant sloths are a lot like their modern day descendants they were slow harmless and well adorable the key difference was that they were bigger and i mean a lot bigger the largest of these tardy titans would have reached up to 7 meters tall and weighed in at over 6 300 kilograms giant sloths evolved in south america about 35 million years ago and thanks to several specimens we've found in good condition we have a pretty good idea of how they lived their lives that is until 11 000 years ago when they went extinct during the ice age but what if that wasn't the story what if they stuck around well if they were still alive they would live in forests or bushy areas found in north and south america these forests would be their vegan buffet giant sloths were herbivores that could stand up on their hind legs to grasp tree branches with their thick claws and snack on leaves some of them even had tongues similar to giraffes and could use them to reach the extra tasty leaves delicious it's a pretty good skill to have because these gentle giants would need to eat about 60 000 calories per day that's as much as an african elephant's daily meal plan so it sounds like even in the 21st century giant sloths would have a pretty relaxed lifestyle but what would it be like for us well knowing humans we'd probably give them a job and use them for labor the giant sloths might be used as transportation at least until we realized that that idea sucks hope you're not in a hurry some giant sloths were the size of an ox so they might be able to help us out on farms by using the old carrot dangling in front of their face trick we could have them plowing fields but is anyone really going to invest in a work sloth i mean they're not really known for their speedy work ethic there's got to be something else they could do well it turns out their biggest contribution was avocados yeah avocados people love avocados but the giant sloth really loved avocados they would eat about 200 avocados per day it's estimated that if 80 000 giant sloths roamed the earth they would eat as many avocados each year as are consumed in the entire united states ah i hear what you're saying how is eating so many avocados a contribution well get this have you ever heard of kopi luwak it's the most expensive coffee in the world kopi luak is made when civic cats eat coffee beans allowing their internal enzymes to seep into the beans creating more amino acids and shortening the peptides this changes the flavor of the coffee and then you know they poop it out and people buy it and they think it's a delicacy it's a bit nutty we might be able to do something similar with the avocado pit considering the avocado pit is much larger we could be looking at a good investment here could guacamole made from the avocado seeds deposited by a giant sloth become a delicacy you could start a gourmet avocado farm with a bunch of sloths eating and pooping out avocado seeds it would be a great way to start production as you wouldn't be lacking fertilizer that is one big pilot now while it would be amazing to have eco-friendly giants helping us with our farms sadly it's only a dream giant sloths are long gone and unless we do some huge genetic experiments they're gonna stay that way but wait a minute that's not a bad idea what if we invested in the technology to give these animals another roll of the dice what if extinct animals could be brought back to life well that's a story for another what if

Channel: What If

Views: 524,681

Keywords: what if, what happens if, scifi, science documentary, what if scenario, mysteries, what if earth, what if giant sloths didn't go extinct, giant sloth never went extinct, evolution, modern-day descendants, tardy titans, herbivores, giant sloths, giant ground sloth, when giant sloths roamed the earth, cute animal videos, sloth videos, wildlife, extinct animals, documentaries, possible scenario

Id: UUXta868e3I

Length: 6min 4sec (364 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 02 2020