Friday 3 January 2020

The extreme life of a sloth

  • Sloths are the slowest mammal on the planet. 
  • But they are slow for a very important reason and are perfectly adapted to their environment. 
  • Those adaptations make them far from boring and actually quite extreme. 
  • Their fur has its own ecosystem and scientists believe it may even be able to cure cancer.  
  • They even risk their lives to poop and make it count, pooping over 30% of their body weight.
  • Visit Insider.com for more stories.

Narrator: If there's one thing you know about sloths, it's that they're, well, slow. But that doesn't mean they're boring. In fact, sloths are one of the most extreme animals on the planet, and not just because they poop only once a week.

First of all, sloths really are extremely slow. Their top speeds clock in at just 0.25 kph, making them the slowest mammal on the planet. According to zoologist Becky Cliffe, that's because, well, sloths can't really see.

Becky Cliffe: 60 million years ago, they lost the ability to see. They went almost completely blind. So, in the daytime, a sloth actually can't see anything 'cause it's too bright. If you can't see where you're going, you can't run around because you're going to fall out the tree.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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