Fun Facts About Sloths Tue, Feb 06, 2018

Hey guys!

This blog is in some serious need of Sloths (as is everything else in this world!), so I thought I’d share some things about this awesome creature that I found on Science Kids. Enjoy!

- Sloths are a medium-sized mammal. There are two types of sloth the two-toed sloth and the three-toed sloth, they are classified into six different species.

- Sloths are tree-dwelling animals, they are found in the jungles of Central and South America.

- A sloth's body is usually 50 to 60 cm long. Skeletons of now extinct species of sloth suggest some varieties used to be as large as elephants.

- Sloths have a four-part stomach that very slowly digests the tough leaves they eat, it can sometimes take up to a month for them to digest a meal. Digesting this diet means a sloth has very little energy left to move around making it one of the slowest moving animals in the world.

- The slow-movement and unique thick fur of the sloth make it a great habitat for other creatures such as moths, beetles , cockroaches, fungi, and algae. In fact, this green colored algae provides a camouflage so sloths can avoid predators.

- Sloths usually only leave the tree they live in to go to the toilet once a week on the ground. This is when they are most vulnerable to being attacked by their main predators such as jaguars, the harpy eagle, and snakes.

- Two-toed sloths are nocturnal, being most active at night. While three-toed sloths are diurnal which means they are most active during the day. It used to be thought sloths slept for 15 to 20 hours a day. However, its now believed they only sleep around 10 hours a day.

- In the wild, sloths live on average 10 - 16 years and in captivity over 30 years.