By JULIET PEREZ
Staff Writer
The brown-throated three-toed sloth is the main species of sloth, this is the sloth most found around Central and South America. Sloths are mostly known for being slow, why are they so slow? Sloths have the slowest digestive system of any mammal, it can take them up to two weeks to digest a whole meal. Because of this, they don’t eat as often making them extremely low on energy. Their diet consists of rainforest leaves, which are extremely rubbery and hard to digest, however, sloths have strong teeth and a multi-chambered stomach, similar to cows, so they are able to digest these leaves. Sloths spend a lot of their time sleeping, as much as 18 hours a day. They urinate and poop once a week, but in order to do so, they have to go to the ground. Their claws aren’t meant to crawl, so being on the ground makes it easier for ground predators to kill them. Another interesting thing about sloths is their fur, their fur makes it easy for them to stay in trees because the brown-green coat helps them camouflage. But the only reason that it’s easier for them to blend in is because of the algae, fungi, and moths that live in their fur. The relationship is beneficial for both the sloth and bacteria, the sloth receives nutrients, a green tint to the fur, and a protectant from deadly diseases, and the algae and fungi receive a breeding bed, the moths provide fertilizer for the bacteria, and the sloth’s feces provide a place to lay the moths eggs.
Although this is considered the least endangered type, they are still endangered. Surprisingly predators are not the main reason for the endangerment of sloths, and deforestation is. The own doing of humans is putting these animals at risk, sloths are hit by cars, they are sold on the Black Market to people as pets, or sold to poachers who take the babies from their mothers and take their teeth and claws out.