[tejtm]

Good question, species do not put that much compulsive effort into preemptive escape without cause.

[Retric]

Thermal regulation is a possibility mentioned outside of predation.

Bears aren’t afraid of being eaten, but they still dig dens because they’re warm in the winter.

[IncreasePosts]

Maybe humans just used the claws of dead giant sloths to carve the caves for their own purposes.

[gus_massa]

Tunels are 100 millions year old. We split from chimps 5 millions years ago.

Modern humans are .11 million year old, and we arrived to America .015 million years ago.

[ainiriand]

No, what is 100 million years old is the rock layer. The tunnels are `recent`.

[ruleryak]

the sandstone formation is 100 million years old, not the tunnels

[tangus]

Just in time to kill the giants sloths?

[metalmangler]

as is often the case, one species will make a burro only to have other species take over and modify it, with choice locations, used contiously for several millenia, so an odd scratch here and one there adds up, and we have no other behavioral evidence for this last mega fauna, so who knows? might find more of these in different stages, with perhaps fossil evidence