A month long digestive process, low metabolic rates and low body temperatures due to an arboreal lifestyle with a diet of only leaves makes this mammal one of the slowest of its kind. They only move when necessary as they expend a lot of energy to do so. A sloth's claws are its only natural defense, besides moving slowly as to not attract attention. The sloth is very vulnerable to predators during its infrequent visit to ground level, however the sloth takes a risk once a week to come down from the trees to defecate. Scientists are still puzzled by this behavior. Some say it's for mating purposes, others say defecating from trees would attract too much predatory attention. Either way I guess we stumbled upon this guy right as he was sauntering to the restroom.
Weird-looking creature . . . and I always thought they were much larger than they are, especially when the guide picks it up.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, it's amazing evolution hasn't caught up with them. They're the Dodo bird of mammals.
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