These youngsters discovered the first evidence that giant Ice Age sloths roamed Santa Cruz

KAZU | By Jerimiah Oetting

Published March 22, 2024 at 5:00 AM PDT

The students who found the sloth fossil pose in front of its display case at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. From left to right: Vivienne Lane, Executive Director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History Felicia Van Stolk, Asher Rains; Harrison Micuda, Joxan Mulry, Rider Antos, and Paleontologist Wayne Thompson.

The elementary-aged students from Tara Redwood School in Santa Cruz discovered a fossilized bone while exploring a creek last spring. The bone was from the arm of a Jefferson ground sloth — the first fossil to show the Ice Age creature lived in the Santa Cruz area.

The radius of the left arm of a Jefferson ground sloth, in its display case at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History.

Paleontologist Wayne Thompson describes the prehistoric world where the Jefferson ground sloth lived to an audience of students from Tara Redwood School.

Students wait to enter the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, to see the sloth fossil they discovered on display.

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Jerimiah Oetting

Jerimiah Oetting is KAZU’s news director. Prior to his career in public media, he was a field biologist with the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service.

See stories by Jerimiah Oetting