Search: sloth
Why: Muffy posted "Four Fun Facts about Sloths" from boingboing, but it doesn't say how big they are!
Answer: 50-60 cm, aka 19.6-23.6 inches! That is not very big! The little babies are really teeny.
Source: Wikipedia
The More You Know: I learned all sorts of interesting sloth facts from that article. Here are a few:
- Sloths are related to anteaters and armadillos. Their family tree split from the rest of mammals 75-80 million years ago!
- They have the lowest body temperature of any mammal - between 86 and 93° F when active (which is barely ever) and even lower when resting!
- Eagles snatch them off of trees!
- Their fur has adapted to breed algae to camouflage them!
- They are wicked smaaht! In a study with a vine- and roped-based maze, sloths showed the same level of cognitive function as cats in a maze on the ground.
- There are 6 species: 4 three-toed and 2 two-toed! Two-toed sloths love grapes!
- Three-toed sloths eat almost nothing other than parts of the Cecropia tree, which is why it's hard to keep them in zoos!
