Talk:Glyptodon

Geographic range

Anyone know exactly where Glytodons lived??? I'm doing a science project on them.

According to McKenna and Bell (1997), the genus itself was restricted to South America. The family was also found in North America. The geographic description in the article is actually in reference to the family or subfamily (Glyptotherium was found in North America). --Aranae 01:45, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

Charles Darwin & Glyptodon

Charles Darwin discovered a fossil of some species of Glyptodon in South America in the 1830s. Was he the first naturalist to find such a beast? It seems likely that locals had been finding fossils of them before but disregarded them.

MrG -- 4 Nov 06

That could be true, as is with the case of the chinese and european dragon, as well as the Australian Bunyip. But debate is still going and a search of text and any other material related to that timeframe is advised. Enlil Ninlil 02:09, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

Classification Conflict - Compare Armadillo Article

This article:

"Glyptodons are part of the placental group of mammals known as Xenarthra. This order of mammals includes anteaters, tree sloths, extinct ground sloths, and armadillos."

Armadillo article:

"Dasypodidae is the only surviving family in the order Cingulata. Until as recently as 1995, the family was placed in the order Xenarthra, along with the anteaters and sloths. There are several species of Armadillo, some of which are distinguished by the number of bands on their armor."

The chart in the Armadillo article lists Glyptodons as "Order Cingulata, Family Glyptodontidae (extinct)". —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.7.28.88 (talk) 05:43, 25 December 2006 (UTC).

Expert attention

This article is presently a badly-sourced mix of information regarding the genus Glyptodon (where's the species list?) and the family Glyptodontidae. Apparently someone thought that there was only one genus in the family; I have corrected this onn the Armadillo page. Dysmorodrepanis 10:54, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Dubious statement

"Predators of the Glyptodon could have included the sabre-toothed cat, although this predator would likely have struggled to turn the 1 to 2-ton animal over to reach its unprotected belly." I find this extremely dubious because cats generally (both extant and extinct) dont seem to target prey unless it is considerably smaller or more managable than themselves. As oppourtunists cats will usually only target a creature if they are sure they have a good chance of sucess with little prospect of harming themselves. Glyptodon is an incredibly large armoured creature though and those bones on its tail and head appear to be defensive. I seriously doubt if even a desperate, starving sabre tooth would ever have seriously considered taking on such a large mammal so far out of its weight class, especially given the cats inability to obtain much or any of the meat a dead glyptodon had to offer. Move for removal of the comments, as I expect most would agree the biggest threat to a glyptodon was probably other glyptodon. WikipedianProlific^(Talk) 12:50, 16 October 2007 (UTC)