This bear-like creature was so big it could rest its chin on top of a double-decker bus; its shaggy hair hid skin as tough as chain mail, and its claws were the size of daggers. These claws meant that it could not put its feet flat on the ground and so, like a modern anteater, it had to walk on the sides of its feet. Even more extraordinary, its footprints show that it walked mainly on its hind legs.

PRONUNCIATION: MEG-AH-THEER-EE-UM
LIVED: 1.9 million – 8,000 years ago
SIZE: Up to 20 feet long
FACT: Herbivorous, eating vegetation and possibly scavenging meat
MEANING: Giant beast
CLOSEST LIVING RELATIVE: Tree sloths
RANGE: North and South America