Fact check: Photos show fossilized giant sloth bones, not giant human remains
The claim: Photos show giant human bones
A Facebook post features several pictures of large bones arranged in a way that resembles a human skeleton. People are observing the bones in some of the photos.
"The remains of GIANTS were discovered in the small Equadorian (sic) village of Changaimina, 7m in height," reads the caption of the March 29 post (direct link, archive link). "Connected to an ancient human race exceeding 12m. Once (sic) such discovery was by a local priest born in 1912. He had kept the skeletal remains in his possession until his death in 1999."
The post was shared dozens of times. A version of it circulating on Instagram garnered more than 1,000 likes before it was deleted.
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Our rating: False
The photos show the fossilized remains of an extinct species of giant ground sloth, according to the museum that houses the bones.
Giant sloth bones on display at Ecuadorian museum
The skeleton seen in the post is housed in an Ecuadorian museum called Museo Paleontológico Megaterio. The museum's website features a picture of the bones.
A translation of the text on the website says the remains belong to the giant ground sloth species Eremotherium laurillardi, which was about 13 feet tall. Different photos of the sloth bones can be found on the museum's Facebook page and in a CBC Radio news report about the discovery of sloth fossils in Ecuador.
The museum's coordinator, Shirley De La Cruz, also told USA TODAY in an email that the bones in the post are the museum's giant ground sloth.
One of the photos in the post can be found on the Pan American Institute of Geography and History website. The photo caption notes the photo was taken at the Ecuadorian museum.
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USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post for comment.
The claim was also debunked by Reuters.
Our fact-check sources:
Museu Paleontologico Megaterio, accessed March 30, Exhibition Room (Google translate)
Pan American Institute of Geography and History, accessed March 30, Framework agreement for interinstitutional cooperation between the Peninsula State University of Santa Elena –UPSE and the national section of Ecuador of the Panamerican Institute of Geography and History-PAIGH (Google translate)
CBC Radio, May 15, 2020, A giant sloth graveyard shows how these enormous animals died — and lived
Paleontological Museum Megaterio, accessed March 30, Facebook page
Reuters, March 30, Fact Check-Images show fossilized remains of large sloth, not human giant
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Photos show giant sloth fossils, not giant human bones
