SGER: Salvage Excavation of the Tarkio Valley Ground Sloth, Page County, Iowa

这笔用于探索性研究的小额赠款将允许恢复一个非常完整的更新世巨型地懒标本，巨爪龙。这个样本是值得注意的，因为它在地质学研究良好的DeForest地层中的原位位置，允许良好的年龄控制，以及尾椎的存在，几乎在所有其他标本中缺失。树懒的恢复将揭示在更新世/全新世巨型动物灭绝事件或附近的树懒的古生态学。在其他五个最完整的巨爪龙化石中，只有美洲瀑布树懒是完整的，在这种情况下，尾部的遗骸是不存在的;其他两个是在世纪前挖掘出来的，第三个是在反铲废料中严重损坏的。这个样本被包含在西塔尔基奥溪的岸边，并被一个在2004年倒塌的小围堰保护。由于该地区春季洪水的侵蚀，遗骸有可能丢失。该项目广泛使用学生和公民志愿者-无论是在样本收集还是在实验室准备阶段。这些遗骸将成为爱荷华州大学自然历史博物馆新设计的展览的一部分。当地媒体密切关注这次挖掘，一个网站记录了该项目的各个方面：挖掘的不同阶段，收集的标本，参与的人，科学解释，媒体报道和展览计划。在过去，努力恢复插槽一直是爱荷华州博览会的一部分，甚至在全国电视转播的爱荷华州篮球中场休息显示。

This small grant for exploratory research will allow for the recovery of a remarkably intact specimen of Pleistocene giant ground sloth, Megalonyx jeffersoni. This sample is notable because of its in situ location in the geologically well-studied DeForest formation, allowing for good age control, as well as the presence of caudal vertebrae, missing in almost every other specimen. The recovery of the sloth will shed light on the paleoecology of the sloth at or near the Pleistocene/Holocene megafaunal extinction event. Of the five other most complete Megalonyx fossils, only the American Falls sloth is as complete, and in that case the caudal remains are absent; two of the others were excavated over a century ago, and a third was recovered badly damaged from backhoe spoil. This sample is contained within the banks of the West Tarkio Creek, and was protected by a small coffer dam that collapsed in 2004. The remains are in danger of being lost to erosion from spring flooding in the area.Student and citizen volunteers are used extensively by this project -- both in the sample collection and in the lab preparation phases. The remains will form part of a newly designed display at the Museum of Natural history at the University of Iowa. The dig has been followed closely by the local media, and a website documents various aspects of the project: the different phases of the dig, the collected specimens, the people involved, the scientific interpretation, media coverage, and plans for the exhibit. In the past, the effort to recover the slot has been part of the Iowa State Fair, and even during nationally televised Iowa basketball half-time shows.