List and description of the main orders of the class Mammals. Sloth - the slowest animal Armadillos and edentulous

Sloths (Folivora) belong to a common order of edentulous. This slow-moving animal is the closest relative of anteaters, and spends most of its life in a dream, which led to the peculiar name of the species.

Description and appearance

The appearance of a sloth may vary slightly depending on the species and habitat of this mammal. The sloth is a typical example of the fact that a special way of life can have a direct impact on many processes occurring in the body of a mammal.

It is interesting! A characteristic feature of two-toed sloths is the presence of seven cervical vertebrae, so the head of this mammal has extreme mobility and can easily turn 180 degrees.

A feature of the life of a sloth is a sedentary lifestyle, as well as excellent energy saving. The liver of this animal is separated from the wall of the peritoneum with the help of the stomach, and is located closer to the dorsal region. The spleen is located on the right side. Among other things, the sloth's stomach and intestinal tract are incredibly large, and the trachea is represented by unusual curls.

The appearance of a sloth

An adult animal has a medium body size. The average body length varies between 50-60 cm with a weight of 4.0 to 6.0 kg. In appearance, sloths look like awkwardly built, funny monkeys with long limbs, which are equipped with very tenacious and well-developed fingers.

It is interesting! It is no coincidence that the animal belongs to the order of the Indentate. The teeth of this mammal do not have roots and enamel, and are almost identical in size and shape.

The body of the sloth is covered with a long and shaggy coat. The head is small in size, with the presence of small ears and small eyes, which are almost invisible behind the thick and rather long hair. The tail is very short and almost indistinguishable in the lush hairline.

Lifespan

The average lifespan of a two-toed sloth in natural conditions is usually a quarter of a century. In captivity, with good care, such mammals can live much longer. In zoos, sloths live up to 30 years or more.

sloth species

Currently, two families are known and well studied: three-toed and two-toed sloths.

The three-toed sloth family includes four species, represented by:

• pygmy sloth (B.pygmaeus);
• brown-throated sloth (B.variegatus);
• three-toed sloth (B.tridactylus);
• collared sloth (B.torquatus).

The two-toed sloth (C.hoffmanni) and the two-toed sloth (C.didactylus) belong to the family of two-toed species.

Where does the sloth live, habitat

All types of sloths live in tropical and equatorial zones. A significant number of the animal is found in the southern part of America. The two-toed sloth is widely distributed in tropical forest zones, in Venezuela and Guiana, as well as in northern Brazil.

There are no very serious threats to the survival of the three-toed species at the moment, but the locals very often eat sloth meat, and the tough skin is used to make decorative coverings. Among other things, the long and curved claws of mammals are used in the manufacture of a traditional necklace.

It is interesting! The unau or two-toed sloth is also not a protected species, but mammals of this species are hunted for tasty and nutritious meat. However, the main threat to sloths is not represented by hunting and natural enemies, but by human activity and massive deforestation.

Sloth lifestyle

Sloths belong to the category of silent and very peaceful animals.. The mammal most often leads a solitary lifestyle. However, almost all adult sloths tolerate the presence of other individuals on neighboring branches very calmly. It is not uncommon to observe how several animals at once form a so-called “common bedroom”, and hang together upside down for a long time.

The period of activity of the two-toed sloth falls at twilight or at night, so daytime is most often reserved for sleep, the duration of which can vary between 10-15 hours. Three-toed sloths prefer to be diurnal and feed and prey on insects in the evening.

It is interesting! Even during the active period, the mammal is so slow that movement can only be noticed in the process of closely observing the animal, and the average speed of movement does not exceed several meters per minute.

To move from the crown of one plant to another, the sloth descends to the ground, where it becomes completely helpless. The animal does not know how to stand on its limbs, and moves with the help of claws on its front paws, sprawling on its belly and actively pulling itself up. It should be noted that sloths are excellent swimmers, and are capable of reaching speeds of about 3-4 km / h in water.

Food, sloth prey

The main part of the diet of mammals such as the sloth is represented by foliage, but the menu can be more varied due to a small percentage of animal food, which is used as small lizards or various insects.

A natural feature is a peculiar microflora that inhabits the digestive tract, which allows indigestible hard leaves to be almost completely absorbed by the mammalian body. Invaluable assistance in digestion is provided by symbiont bacteria that are actively involved in the decomposition of plant components.

It is interesting! Sloths feed, hanging on the branches with their backs down, and the leaves are torn off by hard and keratinized lips or forelimbs.

As a rule, sloths eat very tightly, and the total amount of food consumed at a time is a quarter or a third of the body weight of an adult animal. This amount of food can be digested within three weeks. A low-calorie diet forces the mammal to efficiently save all the accumulated energy, so the movements of the sloth are very slow.

About once a week, sloths still have to go down from the tree "to the toilet", for which small holes are dug. Reduced metabolism is also reflected in the body temperature of the animal, which can vary between 24-34 ° C.

Reproduction and offspring

A pair of sloths is formed exclusively for the mating period. There is no specific season used by mammals for breeding, so a couple can have babies at any time of the year. Male and female sloths are able to easily find each other in large areas thanks to special voice signals.

It is interesting! The population of two-toed sloths is represented by a significant number of females, and males, as a rule, are much smaller, which is reflected in the reproduction of the species.

The mating process of mammals is carried out directly on the trees. Pregnancy lasts on average six months. Each female gives birth to only one cub, and labor activity also takes place on a tree. The female hangs on her forelimbs during childbirth, and the newly born cub is forced to independently get up along the mother's body.

The female herself bites the umbilical cord with her teeth, after which she licks her cub and lets him to the nipple. Only after this does the adult animal assume a natural posture and hang on the branches with all four limbs.

In the first four months, the born cub hangs around the clock on the body of its mother, who practically does not move. After about two or three months, the sloth cub begins to try to eat on its own, but only when it reaches the age of nine months, the already grown up sloth will be able to move to other branches and begin a completely independent life. By the age of three, the sloth acquires the size of an adult mammal.

Keeping a sloth at home

In recent years, tropical animal lovers have increasingly acquired exotic sloths as pets. Such an animal at home adapts quite easily and feels in the apartment no worse than in the forest zone. Despite the characteristic slowness and pronounced sluggishness, the sloth is a very affectionate and devoted pet. Quite quickly, such an animal gets used to both small children and other pets.

It is interesting! The most favorite place for a sloth in the house is an ordinary bed, into which the domestic animal quickly enough climbs and quickly hides under the covers.

If there is a firm decision to purchase such an exotic animal, then you need to take care in advance about preparing a place for the stay of a mammal. Many experts recommend allocating a separate room to such a tropical animal, but a standard large cage is perfect for home keeping, in which live and artificial plants are installed. In this way, the conditions of detention can be as close as possible to the natural habitat of a mammal.

For feeding a sloth at home, it is best to use eucalyptus leaves and other vegetation, as well as ready-made special feeds of industrial production. The animal must have access to clean and fresh water at all times.

It should be remembered that for a sloth it will be necessary to maintain a high air temperature within 25-35 ° C and appropriate humidity, and in winter you cannot do without special heating devices and high-quality humidifiers.

Story

Also in the mountains and thickets there are very large snakes and other animals unknown to us, among which there are those whom we call sloths, which is only to see how ugly its appearance is and how lethargic and clumsy they move.

Description

Sloths mainly feed on tree leaves, although they may, on occasion, eat an insect or small lizard. The leaves are difficult to digest and have a very low calorie and nutritional value. To digest plant fiber, sloths use symbiont bacteria that are part of the microflora of their digestive tract. Eaten leaves are digested in the stomach of a mammal for about 90 hours. In a well-fed sloth, ⅔ of body weight can be food in the stomach.

Interestingly, all three-toed sloths in their natural habitat feed mainly on the leaves and flowers of cecropia, and therefore it is quite difficult to keep them in captivity.

Due to the low calorie content of the leaves, the physiology and behavior of sloths is geared towards energy austerity. Sloths spend most of their time hanging on a tree branch with their back down. Large and sharp claws save them from falling from a tree. Sloths sleep 15 hours a day, but when awake, they move very slowly and only when necessary (hence the name). Sloths have a long neck that allows them to get leaves from a large area without moving. (The sloths neck is very mobile and allows you to turn your head 270 degrees [ ], has 8 or 9 cervical vertebrae.) The body temperature of an active sloth is 30-34 ° C, and even lower at rest. Sloths really do not like to get down from trees, because on the ground they are completely helpless. In addition, it requires energy costs. They climb down to perform natural needs, which they do only once a week and sometimes to move to another tree. When sloths move in search of food, their speed of movement is only about 2 m per minute. Childbirth often takes place on a tree.

When needed, sloths are good swimmers. Their speed in water is about 4 km/h.

Vision is poorly developed, but they are able to distinguish colors, which is not typical for other mammals.

Acacia moth often settles in their wool. In addition, blue-green algae (bacteria capable of photosynthesis) live in the wool of many species of sloths, giving sloths a greenish color, making them invisible.

Due to the unusual position of the body of sloths, their organs are also located atypically. The liver is turned to the back and does not come into contact with the abdominal wall, the trachea is bent, etc. The coat is directed towards the ridge, unlike all other mammals.

Like all edentulous, the sloth brain contains very few convolutions, but the olfactory regions are well developed.

The body weight of sloths of different species varies from 4 to 9 kg, and the body length is about 60 centimeters.

Systematics

• Pygmy sloth ( Bradypus pygmaeus)
• Brown-throated sloth ( Bradypus variegatus)

Sloths

Sloths-tsev; pl. Zool. Family of mammals of the edentulous order.

family of mammals of the edentulous order. Length 50-65 cm. 5 species, in tropical forests of South and Central America. Active at night; during the day they sleep, curled up in the forks of branches. Inactive and very slow. They usually hang upside down from the branches. They descend to the ground only in extreme cases, crawling across open spaces (up to 30-40 m). Sometimes they spend their whole lives in the crown of one tree. They live alone, rarely in pairs. Collared sloth - in the IUCN Red List.

Sloths, a group of mammals (cm. MAMMALS) detachment of edentulous (cm. INCOMPLETE ANIMALS), which includes two families: two-toed sloths (Choloepidae, or Megalonychidae), which include the two-toed sloth (Choloepus didactylus) and Hoffman's sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni); and sloths (Bradypodidae), which include three-toed (Bradypus tridactylus), brown-throated (Bradypus variegatus) and collared (Bradypus torquatus) sloths. Widespread in the tropical forests of Central and South America.
Body length ranges from 50 to 75 cm, weight - from 4 to 8.5 kg. There is no tail (two-toed sloths) or it is very short (6-8 cm, sloths). The limbs are long, the hind legs are shorter than the front ones. Fingers 2 or 3, they grow together, but the long curved claws remain separate. The head is rounded, with a short muzzle. The ears are small, the eyes are directed forward. Sloths, unlike most mammals, have a variable number of cervical vertebrae: 6-8 in two-toed sloths and 6-9 in sloths. The neck is very mobile, and animals can turn their heads 270°.
They lead a sedentary arboreal lifestyle, moving along the branches mainly in a hanging position, with their backs down. Sloths have a low metabolic rate (cm. METABOLISM (in physiology, medicine))- Their body temperature can drop to 25°C. The body is covered with thick hair, growing from the belly to the back, so that rainwater flows freely from the animal hanging upside down. Single-celled green algae often settle in the hair, giving the fur of animals a brown-green tint.
They feed on leaves, buds, young shoots. The stomach of sloths is multi-chambered, adapted for the digestion of plant foods. To empty their intestines and bladder, sloths briefly descend to the ground, but they do this very rarely - once every few days. This is due to the fact that food passes through the digestive tract very slowly, and the bladder is able to stretch almost to the diaphragm.
Mating and birth occur in sloths in a hanging position. The duration of pregnancy is about 6 months in sloths and about a year in two-toed sloths. The only cub weighing about 300 g is born well formed. Until about 9 months of age, it is kept by the mother on the chest, and reaches the size of an adult animal by 2.5 years. The life expectancy of sloths in captivity is 20-30 years. The collared sloth is listed in the International Red Book as a species endangered.

encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .

See what "sloths" are in other dictionaries:

Sloths: Sloths are narrowly slotted, three-toed sloths. Sloths are also called living and extinct animals of the suborder Folivora. Sloths dish, a variety of cabbage rolls ("lazy cabbage rolls") ... Wikipedia

Sloths, a family of arboreal, sedentary mammals. Body length 50 65 cm. 5 species, in the tropical forests of Central and South America. They usually hang upside down from the branches. They feed on plants. The collared sloth is rare... Modern Encyclopedia

Family of mammals of the edentulous order. Length 50 65 cm. 5 species, in tropical forests South. and Center. America. Active at night; during the day they sleep, curled up in the forks of branches. Inactive and very slow. They usually hang upside down from the branches. On the… … Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

sloths- tingininiai statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas taksono rangas šeima apibrėžtis Šeimoje 2 gentys. Kūno masė - 4 9 kg. atitikmenys: lot. Bradypodidae English. sloths; tree sloths vok. Faultiere rus. sloths pranc. bradypodides ryšiai: platesnis… … Žinduolių pavadinimų žodynas

- (Bradypodidae) a family of mammals of the edentulous order (See edentulous). Body length 50 64 cm, weigh 4 7 kg. The forelimbs are longer than the hind ones. On the fingers (there are 2 3 of them) powerful sickle-shaped claws. The neck is very mobile, which provides ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

- (Bradypoda, Tardigrada, Phytophaga) family of edentulous (Edentata). The small short head is more or less rounded and looks like a monkey; the eyes are small, the auricles are rudimentary and hidden in the coat, the lips are hard, inactive. Zubov… … Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron Dictionary of many expressions

sloths- Two-toed sloth. sloths (Bradypodidae), a family of edentulous mammals endemic to Latin America. 2 genera with 7 species. Body length 50-64 weigh 4-7 kg. L. inhabit the tropical rainforests of Central and South America ... Encyclopedic reference book "Latin America"

Sloths are edentulous mammals belonging to the lat family. Bradypodidae, in the past this also included representatives of the bipalo-sloth family.

Sloths feed almost exclusively on tree leaves, although they may, on occasion, eat an insect or small lizard. The leaves are difficult to digest and have a very low calorie and nutritional value. To digest the leaves, sloths use a symbiont bacterium that lives in their digestive tract. Digestion takes about a month. In a well-fed sloth, body weight can be taken up by food in the stomach.

Due to the low calorie content of the leaves, the physiology and behavior of sloths is focused on energy austerity. Sloths spend most of their time hanging on a tree branch with their back down. In order not to fall from a tree, sloths have large and sharp claws.

Sloths sleep 15 hours a day, but when awake, they move very slowly and only when necessary (hence the name). Sloths have a long neck that allows them to get leaves from a large area without moving. The body temperature of an active sloth is 30-34 ° C, and even lower at rest.

Sloths really do not like to get down from trees, because on the ground they are completely helpless. In addition, it requires energy costs. They climb down to perform natural needs, which they do only once a week (therefore, their bladder is huge) and sometimes to move to another tree. Childbirth often takes place on a tree.

In order to further save energy, sloths often gather in groups in the forks of branches. There is speculation that they are mating.

Sloths are so slow that moths often live in their fur. In addition, blue-green algae (bacteria capable of photosynthesis) live in the wool of many species of sloths, giving sloths a greenish color, making them invisible, and being an additional source of food.

Due to the unusual position of the body of sloths, their organs are also located unusually. The liver is turned to the back and does not come into contact with the abdominal wall, the trachea is bent, etc. The coat is directed towards the ridge, unlike all other mammals.

Like all edentulous, the sloth brain contains very few convolutions, but the olfactory regions are well developed.

Sloths can withstand falls from great heights and severe injuries. Little sloths do not cling to trees, but to their mother's fur. Sometimes they fall, and at the same time they can die, since the mother may not climb down for her cub.

The sloth can neither defend itself nor run away from the predator. However, sloths are very numerous, thanks to their coloration and slow movements that make them almost invisible. In some areas, sloths make up ⅔ of the mammalian biomass. Only one species out of five, the collared sloth, has been declared endangered.

Sloths are found in Central and South America. In the past, they were also found in North America, but were almost immediately exterminated after the arrival of Europeans there.

The body weight of sloths of different species varies from 4 to 9 kg, and the body length is about 60 centimeters. Relatives of sloths are armadillos and anteaters, also related to the edentulous.

The ancestors of sloths were giant sloths, including megatheria - huge animals the size of an elephant or a bull, which, like modern sloths, fed on tree leaves. Megatheria died out 10-12 thousand years ago and were contemporaries of primitive people. (with)

Sloths

Sloths... These are mammals from the order of edentulous — the original inhabitants of the South American continent. They live in forests from northern Argentina and Uruguay to Honduras and Nicaragua. These mammals have almost everything different from their classmates.

In them, as in a focus, bundles of oddities intertwined, forming a kind of phantasmagoric tangle. Everything in them is unusual and original, but the most amazing thing is that they spend their whole lives in a hanging position, even when they eat, sleep, move around, give birth and are born, taking a different position only during the administration of natural needs.

What could people say when faced with sloths? The first mention of them can be found in the book of the Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez de Ovieda, which appeared around 1530: “Most of all, they like to hang on trees and other objects that you can climb up. They are non-poisonous and harmless, they are simply completely stupid and useless creatures that are unnecessary to humans.

In those not so distant times, no one caught a sloth eating, and whenever they met him, he turned his head towards the wind. Of course, he eats air all the time, people thought. What was the chagrin of people when it was scrupulously found out that sloths satisfy their hunger with the leaves and fruits of trees! Unflattering characteristics rained down on the heads of sloths as if from a cornucopia.

Sloths are nothing less than the greatest mistake of nature, because they have neither weapons of attack nor weapons of defense. They are slow, extremely stupid, and life for them is a continuous torment. All this is the result of a strange, clumsy structure of a creature, devoid of the grace of nature and showing us an example of innate squalor - this is how the great French naturalist Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon, author of 44 fascinating volumes of Natural History, speaks of them.

The sloth is a degenerate, clumsy, shapeless creature that makes a heavy impression on a person. He is most likely a caricature of an animal. His awkwardness gives him a pitiful look, clearly showing how much he is aware of his sad situation, - the famous German naturalist Alfred Edmund Brehm echoes Buffon.

At first glance, sloths seem to be the most ridiculous creatures in the world. A kind of skillfully made effigy hangs for itself, suspended in front and behind on a tree by its long legs, moreover, it looks so tired that one might think: the animal has absorbed all the injustice of our planet and has become numb from it forever and ever. You look at it and involuntarily think: before us is not a centuries-old creation of nature, but a playful work of a humorist-sculptor. However, it is not.

In fact, the best masters of hanging with their backs down, clinging to branches with powerful claws than sloths, nature did not come up with. The huge long limbs of sloths, disproportionate to their height, almost unsuitable for walking on the ground, turned into a thin tool for hanging and climbing trees. A sloth wouldn't be a sloth if it didn't have gorgeous claws.

With a body length not exceeding 70 centimeters, its curved claws sometimes reach 7.5 centimeters. Not claws, but just excellent hooks, clinging to which it is convenient to hang. With them, the sloth is hooked so successfully and thoroughly that it can hardly be torn off by several people, applying the utmost effort. The muscles that make up a quarter of the sloth's weight (all other animals have much more muscles) are well developed only on the legs.

Sloths have enough enemies. These funny animals would not survive among jaguars, huge snakes - pythons and tenacious birds of prey, they would not survive the persecution of hunters, if they did not lead a purely nocturnal lifestyle, if they did not show dead immobility during the day, if at the time of the play of sunlight their fur would not merge with the greenery of the trees, hiding from prying eyes.

Lower the sloth to the ground, tearing him away from his native element - it’s better not to look at him! His legs, like stilts, do not hold him, he falls on his belly, throwing his limbs in different directions. Like a fairy tale toy with a slow movement mechanism, he crawls like a plastuna, clinging to whatever he has to with his claws and pulling his body forward at a speed of 20 centimeters per second. Or he hobbles on his knees at a top speed of 225 meters per hour.

He is a kind of slow-motion monster - on earth he cannot compete even with a turtle capable of covering a distance of 400 - 800 meters per hour. But the sloth feels good in the water. It costs him nothing to be under water for 20 minutes, and some record holders can even withstand a 40-minute stay in the depths of the water element, which is beyond the power of any person. Sloths and in the trees do not show miracles in agility. But still, they can overcome a 30-meter tree in 20 minutes.

And one sloth even set a kind of record: he, released on a tree, ended up 8 kilometers from the launch pad in 49 days. The sloth is accused of laziness, slowness, forgetting that he has nowhere to hurry, After all, wherever he hangs, he literally drowns in lush greenery, that is, in delicious food, from time to time showing his dark brown dull teeth without enamel. It eats a lot of foliage, plucking it off with hard, keratinized lips that make up for the missing incisors on its jaws.

How to keep from gluttony, if the food itself asks in the mouth! Long and hard, a lot and just a sloth eats, eats to its heart's content and plenty, You might think that he has a huge stomach that fills the whole body. Oddly enough, this assumption is not far from the truth. The share of a large, multi-chambered stomach with muscular sections that grind food like millstones and is lined with hard tissue accounts for 20 - 30 percent of the total weight of the animal.

Such a huge reservoir with a body weight of 4-9 kilograms can be obtained only by reducing the size of other organs. That is why the weight of the sloth's liver does not exceed one percent, and the heart is even less - (), 3 percent of the body weight.

Another oddity is the position of the sloth's liver, which is turned to the back and is located between the ridge and the stomach, nowhere touching the walls of the abdomen. Only lazy people can do that. This dissonance in the arrangement of internal organs is enhanced by the fact that the spleen and pancreas do not lie on the left, as usual in mammals, but on the right, and the trachea, like no other, manages to make two bends.

The sloth's heart, although tiny, works perfectly, making 70 to 80 beats per minute. And breathing is set as it should: three or even eight seconds pass between inhalation and exhalation.

Sloths are the owners of a unique neck. They have it so flexible that it can rotate 270 degrees, as if made up of rubber pieces. Having such a one-of-a-kind neck, you can stare in all four directions and get the leaves around you without moving. There is another surprise hidden in the sloth's neck.

All mammals have 7 cervical vertebrae, even giraffes and whales. Just not for sloths! They have 6 - 9 cervical vertebrae. Even the two-toed sloth - unau - having 7 vertebrae in the neck, still wants to be original: it has 24 - 25 thoracic vertebrae - the largest number among mammals.

A curious detail: sloths do not panic even when they are really threatened with hunger. It doesn’t matter if there is no food: the sloth does not live by “bread” alone! They can go without food for at least a month, without showing any signs of dystrophy and harmful consequences for the body. Even in the event that they accidentally took large doses of poison or received wounds that are fatal to other animals, they do not leave endurance and calmness. They endure all this as if jokingly.

It would seem that slowness, combined with the inability to walk normally, poses an intractable problem of obtaining water for sloths. However, they solve it easily and simply. The whole secret is that the sloth does not need to run headlong to the nearest body of water. He has enough water contained in food - in leaves and fruits. And strong thirst can be quenched by licking dew and raindrops from the leaves.

If the sloth needs to get rid of undigested food, he descends to the ground. This happens once or three times a month, and sometimes - he is capable of such a thing! - after 47 days. This is already an achievement that only lazy people can do.

Without risking getting into trouble, we can safely say that sloths do not suffer from insomnia. Having pinned itself with all four claws to a branch, curled up, carefully tucking its head on its chest, the animal sleeps blissfully 15 hours a day, but not under the cover of night, but during the day. Some, however, even in this matter love “comfort”: they go to bed in a fork in the branches, comfortably resting their backs on one branch, and clinging tightly to another with their paws.
Sloths sleep peacefully. Their nerves are strong, and besides, there is no particular reason for concern. Their outfit merges with the tone of the foliage so much that it seems that they are dressed in invisible fur coats. By the way, such fur coats as those of sloths really no longer exist in the animal world; the pile is directed not from the back to the belly, but quite the opposite.

It turns out that in order not to stroke the sloth against the wool, we must remember that its "parting" is located on the belly, and not on the ridge. This can be understood. After all, a sloth spends most of his life upside down. And in this position, having only such an arrangement of wool, the animal is not afraid of any tropical downpours. Water from it flows down the natural slope of the hair, as if from a goose.
Where did you see green hair? - Fashionistas, - you say, and I will add without batting an eyelid: - And sloths.
You won’t surprise anyone: for the former, this is not a natural color, but a quirk of chemistry; but even in the latter, the hair is dyed, only not by chemical means, but ... by microscopic algae. In addition, for the former it is a tribute to fashion, and for the latter it is a vital necessity.

Maybe these algae got on the sloth by accident and luxuriantly “bloomed”, like mold, in the humid atmosphere of the tropics? That's the thing, no. Two types of algae can grow and exist only on the hairy coat of sloths and nowhere else. In turn, it would be difficult for a sloth to survive without these plants - they give it such a protective color that you can’t imagine better.
Thus, we have before us a wonderful, moreover, a unique example of mutually beneficial peaceful coexistence - symbiosis - between representatives of two different worlds - algae and mammals. By the way, sloth hair coloring is durable, lifelong. After all, algae in myriads sheltered in specially adapted "beds" for them - in special grooves and cracks in long hair.

Needless to say, the rich juicy pastures, spread out in the wilds of the hairline, are not empty. In the beautiful green thickets of sloths, their own, only inherent life boils. Beetles, ticks graze in them, and three species of moth butterflies cannot imagine life without algae, skin flakes and skin secretions of sloths.

For sloths, a body temperature of 28 to 35 degrees is considered normal. It can even drop to 20 degrees, while the death for the animal does not occur, but a deep numbness of the body occurs.

Do they have normal brains? - the curious may ask after finding out so many oddities in the life of sloths.

The answer is negative. The skull box of sloths is special - with two compartments. One of them is absolutely “stuffed” to the very top, and the other contains a small brain, which is almost smooth and without convolutions. This is already a serious sign that makes you think about the mental abilities of sloths. But this is forgivable for sloths: hanging is not
you need to have a mind chamber! But no matter what the sloths are, they are submissive to love. It is not treated as a game that is not worth the candle. When they have a wedding - it's hard to say, but the consequences of the honeymoon make themselves felt. "She" is waiting for the addition of the family. The kid, however, is in no hurry. In the womb, it develops 120 - 263 days.

From the very first minute after birth, the baby in all eyes contemplates the world around him in surprise and makes his first vital decision - to crawl along the mother's belly to the desired nipples at all costs. That's what you can't take away from a baby - it's an innate ability to cling. Claws from birth serve him flawlessly.

The child, generously using the gifts of the mammary glands, hangs near the nipples for almost four months, pinned to the mother's fur with sharp hooks. At the age of 2.5 months, you can taste the taste of the leaves, but not for a minute leaving your mother and holding on tightly to her. For the first time, you can hang on a tree on your own when you are 9 months old. A baby at this age, unhooking from the mother, learns to hang, climbs the branches and selflessly chews the leaves.

A calm mother, like a subtle teacher, almost does not react to the absence of her offspring. And he does not go far from his mother, besides, from time to time he makes sounds, signaling his mother about the coordinates of his location. And adult sloths are dumb, as if they are the keepers of important world secrets. Only when they are greatly disturbed do they hiss piercingly, like reptiles, at times decorating the monotonous music with groans and hoots.

There are two- and three-toed sloths. Two-toed species, each of them can be recognized by a broad-nosed "face", a slightly elongated muzzle, as well as bare keratinized soles, the absence of a tail or a slightly noticeable tail. They are named so because of the presence of only two fingers on the front paws (the hind legs of all sloths have three fingers). With a body length of 60 - 70 centimeters, they weigh about 1 kilogram.

Three-toed - there are three types - three fingers on the front paws. Their signs are: the “face” is flat, the arms are barely longer than the legs (for two-toed animals, on the contrary), the soles are hairy, there is a tail, the body weight is about 3-4 kilograms. Three-toed, in addition, have an exquisite taste - they mainly feed on the leaves and flowers of the cecropia tree from the mulberry family. In captivity, sloths live up to 11 years.

What times have come now - sloths wildly crushed! Let's remember what happened before; of course, their ancestors looked different. Take, for example, the slow-moving sloth, that is, Megatherium, which walked and wandered on its hind legs, sometimes using its front legs as a support, through the South American virgin forests 600 thousand years ago.

They were so huge - up to 7 meters long, and no less than large elephants in height - that the earth trembled under their feet. These animals modestly ate leaves, freely picking them even from the high branches of gigantic trees. It does not matter if the leaves are still rustling at the top of the eaten tree. The monster clasped it with its mighty paws with powerful claws, like huge claws, and, unceremoniously swinging the trunk, pulling out the roots, fell to the ground and ate the remaining greens with appetite.

Mylodont sloths, which were not the height of an elephant, but of a bull, were even used by the ancient natives of Patagonia as pets. They drove the young growth of outlandish "cattle" into the caves, as if into a barn, and lovingly fed him with greenery and hay until the slaughter age. This was, as is believed, only 7 - 12 thousand years ago, already after the mammoths hunted by primitive people died out in Europe and Siberia.

The current sloths, only vaguely reminiscent of their ancestors, managed to keep only long claws as a memory of better times, and it seems that they did not lose.