The Sloth's body length is about 50 to 60 centimeters and its total body weight is between 3 and 5 kilograms. The sloth's limbs are long and very good at gripping, making it much easier for it to grasp branches or bark on which it climbs.
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Information
The three-toed sloth inhabits the rainforests of Central and South America. This mammal is very slow and spends most of its life hanging motionless from branches with its back down. Thanks to its long, hard and curved claws it has an excellent grip on any branch. It is very interesting that sloths can look around in all directions without ever changing their body position. This is because sloths have an increased number of cervical vertebrae, from 8 to 10, which allows them to turn their head almost 180 degrees.
About once a week the sloth slowly descends to the ground to look for a place to defecate. The sloth is not concerned with grooming its fur, through which algae, moths, and other small insects live. The sloth eats its food at night by slowly picking up leaves, buds, young twigs, or fruit of various kinds. It is also interesting that the sloth does not go anywhere to any watering place, it suffices only to drink drops of dew from trees.
The female always gives birth to only one cub, which she feeds with her milk for about a month. Then, for a period of several months, the cub continues to be cared for by its mother attached by its claws to her thick fur.
Trivia
- Speed: Sloths are among the slowest animals in the world. Their walking speed is just 0.03 miles per hour.
- Hanging upside down: Sloths spend most of their lives hanging upside down in trees.
- Inverted Organs: Due to the constant hanging upside down, the sloth's internal organs, such as the heart, lungs and stomach, are inverted.
- Metabolism: Sloths have a very slow metabolism and digest food very slowly. It can take them up to a month to digest one meal.
- Fur: The sloth's fur grows inversely to most animals, i.e. from the belly to the back, which helps drain water when it rains.
- Parasites: A sloth's fur is home to a wide variety of organisms, including flies, fungi and algae. In fact, some sloths have a greenish color due to algae growing on their fur.
- Sleeping: Although sloths seem to spend all their time sleeping, studies have shown that they sleep about 10 hours a day on average.
- Swimming: Despite being very slow on land, sloths are excellent swimmers.
- Claw length: The sloth's claws can reach a length of up to 4 inches (10 centimeters).
- Threat: Sloths are endangered due to habitat loss and hunting. Although they are not considered an endangered species, their populations are in a state of decline.