This week I've been reading about giant sloths. Delightfully described as hamsters the size of elephants, these extinct creatures dug massive tunnels - paleoburrows - that criss-cross beneath South America*. The distinct claw markings along the tunnel surfaces give away their origins, although earlier discoveries confused these markings with those left by pick axes - not least because some of these tunnels also had rock art inscribed in the tunnel walls. Suggesting that either humans later also used these tunnels, or that the giant sloths were creative artists.
Many of these tunnels are no longer accessible, backfilled with sediment. But there are networks that can still be explored, not just those created by giant sloths, but also giant armadillos! These burrows have many stories attached to them, some of which have unfortunately led to treasure hunters destroying the archaeology of the sites, limiting the knowledge we can accrue.
A combination of hunting and climate change is thought to have led to their extinction. Insert your own thoughts on learning lessons from past mistakes here! Imagine if they were still amongst us?! How would that shape the world differently? The tunnels would have provided habitats for bat colonies, space for cave dwelling-animals like salamanders, maybe even animals that would have evolved specifically to live alongside the sloths!
And how could giant sloths and armadillos impact a fantasy world? A series of tunnels for intrepid adventurers to escape through, perhaps. An underground hideout? Spoiler: underground bases feature more than once in A Quartz Storm…perhaps it's not too late to pencil in a giant sloth or two!
*Giant sloths were found across the Americas, but for some reason evidence of their tunnelling behaviour is restricted to South America.
I think the idea of a giant something is great for all books