We had a tree topple in our backyard last year during a rainstorm. Several days later I was working with a crew, cutting it up; one of the gardeners working on the top branches of the tree waved at me and beckoned me over, and when I got there pointed out a sloth, still tightly gripping a limb of the fallen tree. We cut the branch that it was on, and then carried branch and sloth over to the nearest large tree. The sloth relatively rapidly transferred to the trunk of the tree, and then relatively rapidly ascended into the canopy, where we lost sight of it.

It occurred to me for the first time the other day that the word "sloth" is to "slow" what "warmth" is to "warm".

Wait. So why are sloths so slow?

I read this whole article and it’s still not clear to me _why_ they’re slow.

I’m genuinely curious! It seems like this article just lists a bunch of facts about sloths. But doesn’t say why being nearly blind or having a slow metabolism gives any evolutionary advantages.

"The Unexpected Truth about Animals" by Lucy Cooke talks about this and goes into more detail. Enjoyed the other animals too. It has a good example of how humans will still ignore reality in the animal kingdom when it comes to religious beliefs.

[0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34211802-the-unexpected-...

Today I Learned from a link on that page that sloths camouflage themselves by growing algae on their fur and moving very slowly: https://slothconservation.org/with-a-little-help-from-my-fri...

Another fun fact about sloths. My wife is curator of a zoo and they have had some in the past. That slow digestion the article mentions? They probably have some of the worst smelling feces of any animal in the wild.

Interesting article. Given their low metabolism, lack of muscles, low amount of food intake i was wondering where their strength comes from. Thankfully the article links to another fascinating one which explains it - https://slothconservation.org/think-stronger-sloth/#:~:text=....

Sloths almost seem like creatures that evolved on another (slow) world. I wonder if they perceive time differently to us and if their brains are underclocked.

People have been maimed by sloths under the false assumption that, because it moves slowly, it isn’t dangerous. The animal is actually quite strong and can defend itself with the claws.

In Brazil you can visit caves featuring scars on the rock from the pre-historic giant sloth’s claws. This funny animal descends from that!

https://oglobo-globo-com.translate.goog/google/amp/brasil/no...

This reminds me of the same revelation I had when observing my cat in a backyard. There were many snails around, but my cat seemed completely oblivious to their presence; it wouldn't register them as living animals, because they would move so slowly.

Fun read! It still surprises me no predator has been able to somehow take advantage of this evolutionary gap. You'd think one of the predators mentioned in the article would evolve a different way to the detect them.

Then again, something similar probably happened many times in evolutionary history, and the victim species died out as a result. So if one of those predators would exist, we wouldn't have sloths. I guess this leaves them vulnerable to invasive species?

Maybe they figured out the secret to a Zen life?

TLC;DR

Too low contrast; didn't read

Why such strange text formatting? Text color seems to change randomly, some paragraphs, words and even part of words are in bold.

For people who like sloths, I highly recommend the Pygmy Slow Loris:

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/pygmy-slow-loris

In America, you can find them at the DC zoo in a shadowed alcove under red light to simulate night time during visiting hours.

Sloths are pretty rad.

But given their lack of thermal regulation, I wonder if this leaves them especially vulnerable to climate change.

I have seen videos of small turtles going really fast on tiny skateboards. All of a sudden, they become a fast animal and seem happy with it. A bit like human with a bike or a car.

Feels like evolution is not as perfect as we want to believe sometimes.

Could something similar happen with sloths? Maybe their eyesight would improve quickly?

> ”Research has shown that all sloths have a rare genetic condition called ‘rod monochromacy’”

Weird phrasing. All of them having something that is rare means it is not rare at all, right? And if all of them have it, it is not a “condition”, it is their genes, how they are.

See also the delightful Sloth song of Flanders and Swann: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=blDNO5qznjM

My spirit animal is a sloth. Manifesting it here

Obligatory Zootopia Sloth scene: https://youtu.be/HHKwnUa3txo?si=ZblXuDa4RXtYXzzk

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