Sloth

25 Amazing Facts about Sloth | Amazing Facts 4U

25 Amazing and Interesting Facts about Sloth | Amazing Facts 4U

  1. There are four living species of three-toed sloths; these are the brown-throated sloth, the maned sloth, the pale-throated sloth, and the pygmy three-toed sloth.
  2. Sloths can live up to 40 years old.
  3. Sloths are identified by the number of long, prominent claws that they have on each front foot. There are both two-toed and three-toed sloths.
  4. Extinct sloth species include many ground sloths, some of which attained the size of elephants.
  5. The pygmy three-toed sloth can only be found on Isla Escudo de Veraguas which has been separated from mainland Panama for 9,000 years. The major threat to the pygmy three-toed sloth is habitat destruction which is reducing the size of its already small habitat.
  6. Being the world’s slowest mammal, the sloth travels at a top speed of 0.24 kilometers per hour (0.15 mph). They are so sedentary that algae grow on their furry coat making them green aiding camouflage.
  7. Sloths make a good habitat for other organisms, and a single sloth may be home to moths, beetles, cockroaches, and fungi as well as algae.
  8. The three-toed sloth is arboreal (tree-dwelling), with a body adapted to hang by its limbs; the large curved claws help the sloth to keep a strong grip on tree branches. It lives high in the canopy.
  9. The amazing fact is that three-toed sloths can turn their heads almost 360 degrees due to extra neck vertebra.
  10. Sloths only urinate/defecate once a week. They descend once a week to defecate on the forest floor. Amazingly sloths defecate and urinate at the same place every time and become vulnerable to predators.
  11. Sloths sleep in trees for some 10 to 15 hours every day. Even when awake they often remain motionless.
  12. At night they eat leaves, shoots and fruit from the trees and get almost all of their water from juicy plants.
  13. Amazingly dead sloths have been known to retain their grip and remain suspended from a branch.
  14. Sloths will move between different trees up to four times a day, although they prefer to keep to a particular type of tree, which varies between individuals, perhaps as a means of allowing multiple sloths to occupy overlapping home ranges without competing with each other.
  15. Although they are quite slow in trees, three-toed sloths are agile swimmers.
  16. On land, sloths’ weak hind legs provide no power and their long claws are a hindrance. They cannot walk on all four limbs so they must use their front arms and claws to drag themselves across the rain forest floor.
  17. If caught on land, these animals have no chance to evade predators, such as big cats and must try to defend themselves by clawing and biting.
  18. Sloths’ primary predators include eagles, snakes, and jaguars.
  19. In trees the sloth’s greenish color and its sluggish habits provide an effective camouflage. Hanging quietly, the sloth resembles a bundle of leaves.
  20. The three-toed sloth, unlike most other mammals, does not fully maintain a constant body temperature, and this limits it to warm environments.
  21. Sloths are solitary creatures who only gather to mate.
  22. Sloths mate and give birth while hanging in the trees. Females give birth to a single young after a gestation period of around six months.
  23. Three toed sloth babies are often seen clinging to their mothers . They travel by hanging on to them for the first nine months of their lives.
  24. Once sloth babies are weaned, the mother leaves her home territory to her offspring and moves elsewhere.
  25. Adults are solitary, and mark their territories using anal scent glands and dung.

Visit and subscribe to our blog! Get enriching & uplifting quotes right in your inbox: www.eyeopenerquotes.com

~ By Amazing Facts 4U Team

Share your thoughts on what this post means to you...

comments

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.