The Sloth

The three toed sloth, hanging around in the tree tops

The sloth is the worlds slowest mammal, so slow that algae grows on their fur coat. The algae is used for camouflage in the dense rain forest tree tops. There is two genres of sloth, two toed and three toed, but all sloths have long claws at the end of each hand. The exciting life of the sloth is mostly spent in the tree tops, hanging around with the assist of their extremely strong grip and their long claws. Dead sloths have been known to remain hanging from tree branches for a few days before falling. Sloths spend 18-20 hours of their action filled days sleeping. Even when they are awake they don’t move much, only to eat leaves and fruit. Sloths even mate and give birth in trees, baby sloths cling to their mothers backs for the first nine months of their lives. When a sloth is on land, its weak hind legs are basically useless, so they pull their bodies across the ground with their arms and claws. I think that would be hilarious to watch. Surprisingly, sloths are very skilled swimmers, using their long arms to paddle themselves along. Sometimes they drop directly from their tree perches to rivers to avoid predators. In the neck of a sloth, there is extra vertebrae, enabling them to turn their heads about 270 degrees. So next time you’re in a jungle, keep an eye out for the sloth!