Sloth facts

Here are some super facts about sloths!  

There are two types of sloth, two-toed and three-toed. However, this can get confusing as both types have three claws, or ‘toes’, on their hind limbs. Two-toed sloths only have two ‘toes’ on their front limbs, which you think would be called fingers!

Today’s quiet and docile sloth is about the size of a medium dog. However, they haven’t always been this size! They are descendants of the Megatherium, a giant ancient extinct sloth that could grow to the size of a modern-day Asian elephant.

For people, hanging upside down for too long can become more than a bit uncomfortable. So how do sloths do it for 90% of their life? With their organs attached to their ribcage, it greatly reduces pressure on their lungs while hanging out.

Most of a sloth’s diet is green, consisting of mainly buds, leaves and tender shoots. They have a multi-compartment stomach, allowing them to effectively digest all the tough cellulose (plant fibre) they eat. This is by no means a fast process, taking 30 days to digest just one leaf! They need a great deal of rest due to their incredibly slow metabolism.

Their slow nature is an energy conservation tool. They move slower than any other mammal on the planet. In one day, they will only move 38 metres on average. Sloths are even slower when on the ground, cruising at a leisurely 30cm per minute. 

Sloths are sentient beings – they think, feel, and have unique personalities 

• Sloths are largely solitary animals, spending most of their time alone. However, a young sloth will cling to their mother for about six-months, learning vital survival skills from her. After that time, indirect contact through vocal communication between a mother and their young is very important for the offspring's continued development.
• Cases of cross-species adoptions in the wild are rare, but it does happen. In 2020, there were anecdotal reports of an adult three-toed sloth caring for a baby two-toed sloth, appearing as if the female “adopted” the baby as her own.
• Sloths are experts at camouflage thanks to their unique fur coats. Their fur has a symbiotic relationship with algae – and in the rainy season, there fur has a green tint that helps them blend into the forest canopy. The algal colonies are also thought to provide the sloth with essential nutrients, which is something they lack in captivity.
• Sloths have poor eyesight. They are colour-blind and struggle to see in bright-light due to a lack of cone cells in their eyes, a condition called rod monochromacy. To compensate for this, they have an amazing sense of smell and great spatial memory and navigate around the forest using their memory and smell
• Unlike other mammals, sloths exhibit a unique metabolic response to temperature: they conserve energy at cold temperatures, use a lot of energy in moderate temperatures, and remarkably, decrease their metabolic rate again when it’s hot. This is because they aren’t very good at regulating their own body temperature. For example, sloths can’t shiver and rely on their fur coat to stay warm (and because they move so slow, they aren’t able to warm up by moving around). They also move into and out of the shade to help regulate their body temperature.