Doedicurus

Doedicurus, from <a href="/facts/Ancient_Greek/LIK7NlUh">Ancient Greek</a> δοῖδυξ (doîdux), meaning "<a href="/facts/Pestle/5RDw8Tws">pestle</a>" and oυρά (ourá), meaning "tail", is an <a href="/facts/Extinct/24p5NP2q">extinct</a> <a href="/facts/Genus/m8EFjSms">genus</a> of <a href="/facts/Glyptodont/7Dhw5RAA">glyptodont</a> from South America containing one <a href="/facts/Species/oDg6b96r">species</a>, D. clavicaudatus. Glyptodonts are a member of the <a href="/facts/Family_(biology)/qTrn6E8E">family</a> <a href="/facts/Chlamyphoridae/9dfTfgVH">Chlamyphoridae</a>, which also includes some modern <a href="/facts/Armadillo/4acbwyFn">armadillo</a> species, and they are classified in the superorder <a href="/facts/Xenarthra/jEr4EcPD">Xenarthra</a> alongside <a href="/facts/Sloth/r97Q11Ls">sloths</a> and <a href="/facts/Anteater/4SAoVuwu">anteaters</a>. Being a glyptodont, it was a rotund animal with heavy armor and a <a href="/facts/Carapace/8VnnWH2b">carapace</a>. Averaging at an approximate 1,400 kg (3,100 lb), it was one of the largest glyptodonts to have ever lived. Though glyptodonts were <a href="/facts/Quadruped/KMVYdsYf">quadrupeds</a>, large ones like Doedicurus may have been able to stand on two legs like other xenarthrans. It notably sported a spiked tail club, which may have weighed 40 or 65 kg (88 or 143 lb) in life, and it may have swung this in defense against predators or in fights with other Doedicurus at speeds of perhaps 11 m/s (40 km/h; 25 mph).
Doedicurus was likely a <a href="/facts/Grazing_(behaviour)/u8jDhus8">grazer</a>, but its teeth and mouth, like those of other glyptodonts, seem unable to have chewed grass effectively, which may indicate a slow <a href="/facts/Metabolism/WxDrm8k5">metabolism</a>. Doedicurus existed during the <a href="/facts/Pleistocene/0ya9eUp5">Pleistocene</a>. Before this, South America had been isolated from the rest of the world, but the formation of the <a href="/facts/Isthmus_of_Panama/tWgYHHak">Isthmus of Panama</a> allowed North American fauna to invade South America in the <a href="/facts/Great_American_Interchange/e8uuzTok">Great American Interchange</a>, including big cats, bears, proboscideans, camelids, and horses. Doedicurus seems to have inhabited the relatively cold and humid Chaco-Pampean plains of northeastern <a href="/facts/Patagonia/HmNlUCh5">Patagonia</a>. It may have been the latest-surviving glyptodont, with remains suggested to date to 8,000–7,000 years ago during the <a href="/facts/Northgrippian/PtE2GCNr">middle Holocene</a>, though these dates have been questioned. It may have gone extinct due to some combination of human hunting and climate change.

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Doedicurus