Importace of sloths
Animal species on earth are always useful in some way to another. All the species on the earth have a purpose to serve to fulfill the circle of life and to balance the lifecycle. Today we are going to see some of the facts about Sloths and their characteristics.
A sloth eating leaves
Sloth classfied in two part
- Sloth a tree-dwelling mammal that looks adorable is a lazy species. The sloth is a mammal that spends its life hanging upside down in the trees of the tropical rainforests of Central and South America.
- They are classified into two types. They are two and three-toed sloths. The difference between them is that two-toed sloths are slightly bigger than three-toed sloths and they hang themselves upside down. Using their tows and claws they hold on to the branches firmly without using more energy.
- The three-toed sloths don’t hang themselves instead they sit on the top of the tree branches and their face have a smiley look. The characteristic that both varieties of sloth share are sad eyes, round faces, and tiny ears.
- They are slow-moving and they’re always lazy. They stay on the top of the tree branch and spend most of their time. The reason they hang upside down is to stay away from their predators.
Sloth are vegitarian
- Due to their slow movement, in nature algae will be formed over their skin. They use it as a defense mechanism for escaping predators. But they can also able to fight when they are in a battle with predators by using their claws and hissing at them.
- The body condition of sloths differs from other animals. They have a low metabolic rate and low body temperature. By this condition, their food and water needs are less and their digestion takes more than weeks for one meal. They eat the leaves of the branches and stay full.
Sloth blending with the tree for defense
Sloths characteristics
They are the only mammals that have 8-9 neck vertebrates and with this, they can turn their heads to around 270 degrees. And by their long claws, they find it difficult to walk on land. They travel only 100-200 meters on land with their slow moments.
Sloths swin on water
- They do swim 3 times faster on water. They can slow their heart rate to one-third its normal rate. By doing this they can hold their breaths for 40minutes underwater. The face posture of a sloth looks smiling always.
- But even though when they are in pain or in fear they always smile. By this people think that they are happy. With this, they are used in the sanctuary as a photo prop.
Slow sloth reproduction
- They reproduction happens once a year. But due to their slow moments sometimes it can take longer. When a female sloth is ready for mating it gives a discreet sound to let the male sloth know. If the sloth is in a group the males fight each other to mate with females.
- The pregnancy time takes around a year for two-toed sloth and for three-toed sloths it’s half the period. They produce babies by hanging themselves in the tree upside down. When the time of birth the sloths will go from top to lower branches and by that the baby can fall to the ground without any damage.
A upside-down hanging sloth
Sloth sleeping time
- The male sloth are shy and nocturnal. So they stay awake at night and sleep in the daytime. They come down to the surface to have their bathroom interval. Sloth doesn’t have a good eye-sight like other animals.
- They are color blinded and they see things in black and white. It’s because they don’t have cone cells in their eyes which gives color to what we see. And they have poor eye clarity and with that, they don’t even recognize their child if it’s 5 feet apart.
History of sloths
In the past age, there was a sloth species called Megatherium which was the size of an Asian Elephant. They had small disc-shaped bones that are used as armor protection. But they are extinct 10,000 years ago.
Sloths live on tree
They spend their whole life hanging up on trees and mating and giving babies. These are some of the facts about Sloth and their characteristics of them.
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By Mukesh Kumar U M
Date: 01/04/2022
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