 It was hunted by various local predators, like dire wolves and "Smilodon", from which the sloths may have defended themselves by standing upright on hindlegs and tail and swiping with their long foreclaws, like its distant relative "Megatherium", as conjectured in the BBC series "Walking with Beasts".The same claws could also been used as tools to reach past the plant spines and grab softer flowers and fruits.Also, the Shasta ground sloth may have had a prehensile tongue (like a giraffe) to strip leaves off branches.