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🦁 Animal world 🐘 Mammals

The sloth

The sloth

πŸ“– In short

The sloth is the slowest mammal in the world! It lives in the forests of Central and South America and spends most of its life hanging upside down from branches, holding on with its long curved claws like hooks.

🀩 Did you know?

  • A sloth sleeps about 15 hours a day.
  • A sloth comes down from its tree about once a week.
  • A sloth can turn its head a long way to look around.
  • There are two kinds of sloth: two-toed and three-toed.

πŸ”Ž Find out more

🌟 Very slow

A sloth moves very slowly and may take a whole minute to go one meter. It eats leaves that give little energy, so it saves energy by moving slowly and sleeping a lot.

πŸ” Sleeping while hanging

A sloth's claws are so strong that it stays hanging from the branch even while asleep, and sometimes even after it dies!

πŸ’‘ Green fur

Tiny green plants called algae grow on a sloth's fur, turning it greenish so it hides among the leaves from eagles and big cats.

🎯 A surprising swimmer

Although it's slow in the trees, the sloth is a good swimmer, and swims in rivers faster than it moves along branches.

πŸ“Έ More pictures

The sloth
The sloth
The sloth

🧩 Test yourself

1 How does a sloth live in the trees?

2 Why does a sloth's fur turn green?

3 A sloth sleeps about ?? hours a day.

4 Which picture shows β€œThe sloth”?

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πŸ“· Picture sources: Wikimedia Commons