27,000-year-old giant ground sloth tooth is like a climate time capsule

By Ashley Strickland, CNN

Updated 2:08 PM ET, Wed February 27, 2019

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This illustration compares the jaws and teeth of two predatory dinosaurs, Allosaurus (left) and Majungasaurus (right).
Photos: Ancient finds
This illustration compares the jaws and teeth of two predatory dinosaurs, Allosaurus (left) and Majungasaurus (right).
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This is an artist's illustration of Najash rionegrina in the dunes of the Kokorkom desert that extended across Northern Patagonia during the Late Cretaceous period. The snake is coiled around with its hindlimbs on top of the remains of a jaw bone from a small charcharodontosaurid dinosaur.
Photos: Ancient finds
This is an artist's illustration of Najash rionegrina in the dunes of the Kokorkom desert that extended across Northern Patagonia during the Late Cretaceous period. The snake is coiled around with its hindlimbs on top of the remains of a jaw bone from a small charcharodontosaurid dinosaur.
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University of South Carolina archaelogist Christopher Moore (second from right) and colleagues collect core samples from White Pond near Elgin, South Carolina, to look for evidence of an impact from an asteroid or comet that may have caused the extinction of large ice-age animals such as sabre-tooth cats and giant sloths and mastodons.
Photos: Ancient finds
University of South Carolina archaelogist Christopher Moore (second from right) and colleagues collect core samples from White Pond near Elgin, South Carolina, to look for evidence of an impact from an asteroid or comet that may have caused the extinction of large ice-age animals such as sabre-tooth cats and giant sloths and mastodons.
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Core samples from White Pond near Elgin, South Carolina, show evidence of platinum spikes and soot indicative of an impact from an asteroid or comet.
Photos: Ancient finds
Core samples from White Pond near Elgin, South Carolina, show evidence of platinum spikes and soot indicative of an impact from an asteroid or comet.
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The Sosnogorsk lagoon as it likely appeared 372 million years ago just before a deadly storm, according to an artist's rendering. The newly discovered tetrapod can be seen in the left side of the image below the surface.
Photos: Ancient finds
The Sosnogorsk lagoon as it likely appeared 372 million years ago just before a deadly storm, according to an artist's rendering. The newly discovered tetrapod can be seen in the left side of the image below the surface.
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Bronze goods recovered from a river in northern Germany indicate an ancient toolkit of a Bronze Age warrior.
Photos: Ancient finds
Bronze goods recovered from a river in northern Germany indicate an ancient toolkit of a Bronze Age warrior.
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Mold pigs are a newly discovered family, genus and species of microinvertebrates that lived 30 million years ago.
Photos: Ancient finds
Mold pigs are a newly discovered family, genus and species of microinvertebrates that lived 30 million years ago.
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Ferrodraco lentoni was a pterosaur, or "flying lizard," that lived among dinosaurs 96 million years ago. The fossil was found in Australia.
Photos: Ancient finds
Ferrodraco lentoni was a pterosaur, or "flying lizard," that lived among dinosaurs 96 million years ago. The fossil was found in Australia.
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These Late Bronze Age feeding vessels were likely used for infants drinking animal milk.
Photos: Ancient finds
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