How does sloths survive

Good Subscriber Account active since Shortcuts. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile. Log out. US Markets Loading H M S In the news. Alyssa Pagano. In the midst of coronavirus poachers seize the chance to kill rhinos in Africa.

Coronavirus 1 june by Mike Mwenda. Coronavirus 29 may by Elisabetta Scuri. Environment 15 may Coronavirus and wildlife, can zoonotic diseases decimate the illegal trade in wild animals? Coronavirus 11 may Oceans 6 may Moon bears, a sanctuary to save them from bile farms opens in Laos. Environment 27 april The answer is surprisingly simple: Being slow is an incredibly successful strategy for survival.

In fact, being slow has helped sloths to survive on this planet for almost 64 million years. It is obviously a winning tactic.

But in order to understand exactly what it is, that makes them so slow and why it works so well, we have to look at the biology of these unusual animals in a little bit more detail.

This leaves them completely colorblind , only able to see poorly in dim light and completely blind in bright daylight. Sloths acquired this odd condition a long time ago — way before they broke off from anteaters on the evolutionary tree! Sloths were originally ground-dwellers check out the Giant Ground Sloths , and the sloths that we see today only took to the trees quite recently in their evolutionary history. As they were already mostly blind by this point, moving into the trees was a dangerous move.

There are not many blind climbers, and those that do usually have amazing adaptations to cope with the lack of vision. Slowness was the only option for sloths! Both two and three-fingered sloths have a predominantly folivorous diet , meaning that they feed mostly on leaves with notably low caloric content.

Are sloths slow because of what they eat? Why are Sloths So Slow? And Other Sloth Facts Oct. What is a sloth? So, are sloths marsupials or primates? Where do sloths live? Why are sloths so slow? Can sloths swim? Are sloths endangered? Are they dangerous? You tell us:. So, do sloths have predators? Jaguars and eagles are common predators of sloths. Do sloths have tails? What do sloths eat? How much do sloths sleep?