Do you know what animal is the slowest? 🦥

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Speaker 1: You're listening to sleep tight Science. Did you know that sloss can hold their breath for up to forty minutes underwater? Hm? Hmm. This helps to make them very skillful swimmers. Wow. So why do sloss move so slowly? It is no secret that sloths are very slow. They move about six to eight feet permit, which is about one quarter as fast as US three toad. Sloss are the slowest animals on Earth, even slower than tortoises and snails. One reason sloths move so slowly is because of the food they eat. Sloths mainly eat leaves, and it can take up to one month for them to digest a single meal. Leaves are not very nutritious, so sloths need to save as much of their energy as possible to survive, which means moving less. Also, because as they move so slow, it is harder for predators to see them. Predators like jaguars and harpy eagles rely on site to hunt, and the sloth slow movement helps them to stay safe, so their slowness is actually saving them from becoming extinct. Another thing that happens as a result of their being so slow is that algae actually grows on their fur. This helps them blend into the trees and hide from their enemies. One of the only times that sloths do not move slowly is when they are in the water. Sloths are very good swimmers. They can move three times faster in the water. Their long front arms and being able to hold their breath for a long time makes them great swimmers. They will often jump in the water and use it as a short cut or a way to get through the forest more quickly. So what is the difference between a two toad sloth and a three toad sloth. There are different kinds of sloths, and the most popular are the two toadsloth and the three toad sloth. The number of toes or long and hollow claws are found on the front feet of the sloth. So let's start with the two toadsloth. They're really slow. The slowness and the humidity of their area increases the algae which grows on their fur. This gives them a greenish color which acts as camouflage, which actually helps them As I said with their predators. The two toadsloth has bigger eyes and a shaggier, lighter coat. They also spend more time hanging upside down than the three toadsloth. Two toadsloths are three things. First, they are nocturnal, which means they are a wake at night and sleep during the day. Second, they are solitary, which means that they are generally found alone. Third, they are arboreal, which means that they live most of their lives traveling through the trees. Two toads loss can live up to twenty years in the wild and thirty to forty years in captivity. Woo three toads loss are quite similar to the two toadsloth, but they are better swimmers. They are slightly smaller than the two toteslath and have markings on their face that make it look like they are smiling all the time. The three toad sloth doesn't only hang upside down in a tree, they will also sit upright in the fork of a branch. They also change trees up to four times a day, and they are diurnal, meaning they are awake either day or night. A three toad sloth can turn their head two hundred and seventy degrees, and this happens because of their bone structure. They have an extra vertebrae at the bottom of their neck that lets them look in all directions. The pigmy three toad sloth is a newly recognized species of sloth. It was only recognized in two thousand and one as a distinct speeds. It is a much smaller sloth that lives specifically in one area in Panama, and it is already on the list of the one hundred most endangered species in the world. We currently believe there might be about seventy nine of them alive. So how do sloths use the bathroom? Because it takes so long for the sloth to digest their food, they only poop about once a week, only once a month or so. Ahh two toad sloths will do their business from up in the trees, but the three toad sloth does something very different. They slowly climb down to the forest ground and do a little poop dance. While they are doing their dance, they are actually digging a hole to poop into. Now, when the sloth does finally have a poop, it is usually enormous. If you took their poop and weighed it, it would weigh the same as almost one third of the sloths body weight. People say you can actually see the sloth's stomach shrinking when they are poop, and another person said that when the sloth is finished pooping, it tips his head back and smiles. But there is a bad part to all of this, because the sloth has to climb down the tree to use the bathroom. They waste a lot of energy doing this. Most sloths are hunted. When they are on the ground using the bathroom. They are not hidden as much by the leaves, and so they cannot escape quickly from a predator that might be looking for them. If a predator catches a sloth, the sloth will bite, hiss, scratch, and shriek. Fun facts about sloths. Sloths cannot shiver to stay warm until they have a hard time maintaining their body temperature on rainy days. Sloths don't fart. Sloss c up to twenty hours a day, and when they are awake they barely move at all. Sloths don't stink. They don't sweat, but this doesn't mean they are not dirty. The hair on a sloth is a cozy home or uncountable numbers of insects and bugs. Sloths see better at night than during the day, and they have very poor hearing. They rely on their sense of smell to find food and other sloths. Sloths are actually built upside down, well sort of. Their main organs are attached to their ribs, so their lungs don't get squished when they are hanging upside down. How lucky for them. Thank you for listening to this episode of sleep type Science, where we investigate the questions you have about anything science related. Our podcast starts with a question like did you you know? And throughout that episode we will try to answer the question. If you have a question or there is something you would like to know more about, send us your questions or comments at hello at sleep tightescience dot com. I look forward to hearing from you soon.