Directly across the river from where I write this, a three-toed sloth is napping in the highest branches of a Cecropia tree. It is curled up in a tight ball- although it is hard to tell, I think it is upside-down as well. Although it is closely related to the armadillo and anteater, there is nothing else like the sloth. They look something like "strange monkey," but their movement and metabolism, or process of breaking down food, is very different than a monkey's.

Why are sloths slow? First of all, slow movements helps the sloth escape notice from predators like the jaguar, harpy eagle and anaconda. They look like a "lump on a log," so predators think it is just another termite or ant nest. Secondly, a sloth's diet is leaves, leaves, and more leaves. Leaves are difficult to digest, so a diet of pure leaves provides little nutrition. That means they must eat a lot of them to stay alive. The sloth has a very low metabolic rate and low body temperature. In fact, at night, sloths save energy by lowering their body temperature as much as 20 degrees to match that of the environment. That way they don't have to burn energy trying to stay warm or cool. We've noticed most sloths stay way up in the trees where they can bask in the sun and stay away from predators.

Like most plants and animals in the rainforest, sloths have developed relationships with other organisms to promote life- called mutualism or symbiosis. The surface of the sloth's hair has many groves and pits in which algae and fungus grow to turn the sloth greenish. The green color helps the sloth be better camouflaged. Fungi are basically mushrooms; algae are microscopic organisms that- like plants- use sunlight as food. Not only do sloths support plants on their bodies, they support insects as well. Several beetle and moth species spend a part of their life cycle living on sloths. The "sloth moth" lives in the sloth's hair and lays its eggs in the sloth's droppings.

Now that is one interesting animal. Guess what? It even swims in the water too!

Take it easy,

Patrick