It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with sloths. I think they are adorable. They grow algae. The move really slowly. The have the most precious claws. But it’s also no secret I really didn’t know anything about sloths prior to going to Costa Rica. Five fun facts that I learned (and confirmed via the ever-reliant interwebs). I’m telling you, these creatures are not only amazingly cute, they are also really fascinating.
1. There are both two-toed and three-toed sloths. They actually are not that closely related (in completely different families). It is thought that they evolved separately (after a certain point of divergence, of course) into creatures with similar habits. Crazy, no?
2. Three-toed sloths can swim. Say what? Yes, these little fellas can swim, and swim well. I would die to see a swimming sloth.
3. Sloths (both three and two-toed) have weird numbers of cervical vertebrae. Three-toed sloths typically have nine, two-toed typically have five. This makes these animals a total anomaly in the mammal animal kingdom–other than manatees, all other mammals have seven cervical vertebrae. Evolution does some funny things.
4. Two-toed sloths prefer to descend from trees head first. Three-toed sloths prefer to descend feet first. Both obviously prefer trees, all the time, and rarely visit the earth (only to mate and to poop, I’ve heard).
5. And back to the vertebrae issue, three-toed sloths can actually turn their head up to 270 degrees due to their vertebral additions. I wish I could do that!
Do you like sloths?
