Facts about Sloths! Cute, adorable and fascinating!

I have a new sloth video, so yes of course I am writing about sloth again. Don’t worry I don’t think my obsession has reached Kristen Bell levels yet…. yet…. You can watch my Sloth Montage Video HERE, and see a Sloth Photo Essay HERE.

Today I am excited to bring you my most exciting and kind of crazy Sloth video yet. Sloth Facts! Please let me know what you think and which fact is your favourite!

Keep reading below for even more facts, that didn’t make the video.

 

 

What did you think of the video? Please leave a comment!

Here are the sloth facts in the video:

1. Sloths are “one” of the cutest animals in the world.

2. Sloths can swim!

3. There are 6 species of sloths belonging to 2 families the three toed and two toed sloth.

4. Three toed sloths have extra neck vertebras that allow them to turn their heads 270-300 degrees.

5. Sloths in the wild use the “washroom” only once a week.

6. The majority of their diet consists of mainly leaves.

7. Sloths can’t fart!

8. They are built for holding on tight. Some keep their grip after death and are found still hanging in the trees.

9. The can live to be 15-20 years old in the wild and upwards of 30 in captivity.

10. Sloths are the slowest mammals in the world, so slow that algae grows on their fur that moths and other insects live off of.

11. The sloths closest relatives are the armadillo and the anteater.

12. An ancient relative is the giant Ground Sloth which grew as big as an elephant!

Other interesting sloth facts that didn’t make the video:

13. Sloths have one baby at a time. Twins are extremely rare and often when they do occur the mother isn’t able to take care of both of them at once.

14. Sloths have babies while hanging upside down in trees.

15. A baby stays with its mother on average for 8months to a year clinging onto her.

16. Sloths are solitary animals except for when caring for a baby.

17. Sloth claws are actually mostly the third section of their finger just covered in keratin with only a little part on the end actually being a claw.

18. If cornered sloths will claw and bite their predators to try to get away.

19. The sloths main predators are Jaguars, Eagles and humans.

20. Sloths don’t tend to gain any fat on their bodies except for their foot pads.

21. Sloths have multiple stomachs like a cow and can take up to a month to digest what they have eaten. At any given time half of a sloths weight might be made up of undigested leaves.

22. The two toed sloth only has six cervical vertebrae.

 

From my research those are all of the Sloth facts that I have found. However so much still isn’t known about the Sloth and more research efforts need to be done to help protect these cute balls of fur. If you want to donate to help the sloths visit the Sloth Sanctuary’s website and click donate.

Special thanks to LatitudesAdventure.com for arranging my visit to the Sloth Sanctuary and to Visit Costa Rica for bringing me to their beautiful, yet rainy country. As always all views and opinions expressed are my own at no point did they ask me to fall in love with these adorable creatures.

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