Sloth is a mammal animal spends the majority of its life in the rainforests of central and south America – sleeping, eating, mating and even giving birth in the treetops.
Most of this time is spent hanging from branches using its fantastically long fingernails (okay, technically claws. but occasionally the creature does venture down onto the forest floor.
Here we take a look at few things we need to know about sloth:
1. Sloths have only either two or three toes
2. The animal is so slow that algae grows on its furry coat
3. The algae give sloths a green tint to their coat that helps them hide in the rainforest
4. Sloths are herbivores, weigh around 4kg and are around 58 cm long
5. Sloths get cold easily as their bodies only have 25% muscle so they can't shiver. Luckily they live in tropical climates.
6. Dead sloths have been known to remain hanging in treetops
7. Sloths sleep in trees around 15 to 20 hours a day
8. Sloths eat shoots, leaves and fruit from trees at night
9. It can take sloths a month to digest one meal as they have four stomachs
10. They even mate and give birth in the trees
11. Sloth were much bigger thousands of years ago with ancient sloths believed to be the size of elephants
12. These ancient sloths roamed North America but became extinct around 10,000 years ago
13. Sloths are solitary creatures and aren't all that social with others
14. Sloth fights over mating involve the two males hanging from branches by their front claws and pawing at each other
15. They only have one baby at a time and the baby will cling to its mother's belly for several weeks and stay by her side for up to four years
16. Sloths find it difficult walking on land due to their weak hind legs and large front claws
17. As a result they walk by digging in their front claws and dragging their hind legs and bellies along
18. Sloths can't run away from predators. Instead they claw at them and bite
19. Sloths are excellent swimmers
20. Their call across the forest is a high-pitched 'ahhhh-eeeee' sound
21. Three-toed sloths have an extra neck vertebrae so they can turn their heads 270 degrees
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