Happy International Sloth Day! October 20th is a chance to celebrate these famously chill critters and look out for their future in the wild.
Their name might mean “laziness,” but the reputation isn’t entirely fair. Curled up in the branches or dangling belly-up, they might look like professional nappers, but wild sloths only sleep about 10 hours a day — on par with many preschoolers.
They do take their time with just about everything. A ficus leaf can take a month to make it through their digestive system. Bathroom breaks follow a leisurely schedule, too. Sloths go number two about once a week, shedding up to a third of their body weight in one go.
Sloths fall into two main groups — two-toed and three-toed — containing seven species altogether. A footnote on the naming system: all sloths have three toes on their hind feet. The names refer to the front ones.
Costa Rica is home to two species — Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth, named after German naturalist Karl Hoffmann who discovered it in 1858, and the brown-throated three-toed sloth. The two of them share the spotlight as the country’s national symbols. The total number of sloths worldwide is unknown. However, the pygmy three-toed sloth has an estimated population of 2,000-2,500, all living on a small island off Panama.
Taking life slowly doesn’t mean having it easy. Looking like plushies come to life has made sloths a popular draw for tourists eager for an up-close encounter.
Read more at Northeastern Global News
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