| Sloths' limbs are also designed to suspend the animal's body upside-down from horizontal tree limbs, rather than supporting it right-side-up. These animals are, however, limited to habitats with plenty of thin branches and vines, because their claws can't grasp thicker trees. They move, slowly, through the canopy on networks of liana vines, rather than descending to the ground and then climbing a different tree. |
| The sloth's apparent laziness is because of its diet. Sloths eat only leaves, which are naturally low in energy and hard to digest. Their seemingly lethargic movements help them conserve the little energy they do get. Their metabolism is a superb adaptation for a leaf eater with such a low energy diet. Their metabolic rate is only half that of similarly sized mammals. |
When the sloth is sleeping, its body temperature drops to conserve energy, falling to well below 30 degrees Celsius (a human's body temperature is 37 degrees Celsius, and those of smaller mammals are usually even higher). The sloth's strange appearance and even more unusual behaviors are all adaptations to deal with its low energy diet. |
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