The sloth is the slowest animal. List and description of the main orders of the class mammals Reproduction and offspring

The sloth, which lives in South America, got its name for a reason, because it is really one of the slowest representatives of the animal world (although other snails can compete with it in this rank), and still the slowest among mammals. Sloths are well shown in the beautiful children's cartoon Zootopia, where the natural slowness of these creatures is wittily compared with the slowness of some civil servants.

Well, a cartoon is a cartoon, and in our today's article we will describe the real sloths that live in natural conditions.

Sloth: description, structure, characteristics. What does a sloth look like?

The appearance of the sloth is the most amazing and unique, it is not like any other representative of the animal world. Even their closest relatives from the detachment of edentulous - (by the way, also with an amazing appearance) and armadillos are completely different from them.

A characteristic feature of the sloth is the presence of special fingers in the form of hooks. A sloth usually has three toes, but there are species that have only two. These fingers are not only for the sake of beauty, they are actually very strong and tenacious, with their help sloths can easily hang on tree branches, where they spend most of their lives.

The sizes of sloths are not large: the body length of this animal is usually 50-60 cm, weight 4-6 kg. The body of the sloth is covered with wool, which has a brownish-gray color.

The sloth's head is small and also covered with hair, sometimes so much that only the eyes of the animal are visible. In general, the sloth's face is somewhat reminiscent of Chewbaku from " star wars”, or just an unusual shaggy one. Interesting fact: sloth teeth are devoid of enamel, however, they are all equal as a selection.

Do sloths have a tail? Yes, there is, but they have it very small, so it is almost invisible under thick hair.

Nature gave these animals an excellent sense of smell, but it didn’t work out very well with other senses: sight and hearing in sloths are poorly developed. Also small in size and their brain, the small size of which probably plays a role in their slowness, but on the other hand, these animals are always calm, good-natured, phlegmatic.

The internal structure of the sloth's body is not the same as in other mammals, for example, the liver is located closer to the back, the spleen is on the right, the stomach and intestines are disproportionately bigger size, and this is no accident. The fact is that sloths are very clean animals, and in order to relieve themselves, they descend from the trees to the ground, where they become defenseless against predators who are not averse to feasting on them. To minimize this risk, sloths defecate less often, on average once a week, and are able to do so thanks to their larger stomachs.

The movement of the sloth on the ground looks very comical, and all because of the long fingers with large hooks, it seems that the sloths are trying with great effort to overcome even the smallest obstacle. The speed of movement of the sloth on the ground is only a few meters per minute!

But oddly enough, sloths are excellent swimmers, they swim many times faster than they move on land.

It is also interesting that sloths have one of the lowest body temperatures among mammals, averaging between 30 and 33 degrees, and sometimes dropping to 24 degrees. Such low temperature due to the fact that the metabolism of sloths is extremely slow.

And sloths justify their name not only by slowness, but also by their love for a good sleep. Yes, they are big sleepyheads, how much does a sloth sleep per day? They usually sleep 10 to 15 hours a day, which is also rare in the animal kingdom. Moreover, it is interesting that sloths sometimes sleep, just hanging on the branches of a tree upside down.

Like this sleeping sloth.

Where does the sloth live

Sloths, due to their low body temperature, are very fond of warmth and, as a result, live exclusively in warm, tropical regions of Central and South America: they are found in Brazil, Honduras, Paraguay, Uruguay, Panama, in the north of Argentina. As habitats, they always choose dense forests, where they feel comfortable among the crowns of trees.

What do sloths eat

Sloths are good-natured herbivores, their main food is various and fruits that grow right under their noses. Sloths do not need to get their own food, look for prey, juicy tropical fruits growing in their habitats, no less juicy foliage, can become a source of both food and moisture for them.

sloth enemies

But the sloths themselves, in turn, can become food for various predators of South America, primarily for the anaconda, cougar, jaguar and its melanated relative. Predators attack sloths, as a rule, at the moment when they descend from the trees, on which they are in relative safety, to the ground. As we wrote above, sloths descend to the ground mainly in order to relieve themselves of great need, and at this moment the greatest danger lies in wait for them.

Since ancient times, humans have also been the eternal enemy of the sloth: the American Indians hunted sloths for centuries, finding their meat tasty and nutritious. However, American Indians are not an example white man, treated nature with care and did not kill more sloths than they need for food.

How long do sloths live

The life expectancy of a sloth in natural conditions is 10-20 years. As for captivity, there were cases when sloths in the zoo lived up to 32 years.

Sloth lifestyle

Sloths are indeed lazy and phlegmatic animals, spending most of their time snoring on branches. Also, sloths love and appreciate loneliness, and they are rarely seen in groups or even at least two individuals together. But if sloths still happen to meet their own kind, then thanks to the good nature and peaceful nature of these animals, they will never show even the slightest signs of aggression, they will calmly feed themselves or sleep next to each other. A sloth can express his dissatisfaction with a loud sniff.

Types of sloths, photos and names

In general, there are six species of sloths in nature, of which four species belong to three-toed sloths, which have three fingers, and two species of sloths are two-toed sloths. Below we describe the most interesting of them.

This species could be called the common sloth, since it is, in fact, the most typical and common representative of the sloth genus. Everything described above concerns, first of all, three-toed sloths.

A characteristic difference of this three-toed sloth is its small size(hence the name), this is the smallest of the sloths, its average body length is 40 cm, and its weight is no more than 2-3 kg. In all other respects, except for size, it is similar to its large three-toed relative.

As you might have guessed, this species of sloth has one less toe than its closest relatives. Despite the absence of one toe, the two-toed sloth also keeps well on tree branches, like its close relatives. In all other respects, the two-toed sloth is similar to the three-toed sloth.

sloth breeding

How do sloths reproduce? Depending on the type mating season in these animals comes in different time. So three-toed sloths usually start mating in the spring, in March-April, but two-toed relatives can do this all year round.

Pregnancy in a female sloth lasts six months, after which only one cub is born. Moreover, it is interesting that sloths give birth right on a tree - catching a branch with their front paws, the female hangs vertically down, and in this position gives birth to a baby.

As soon as he is born, the little sloth grabs his mother's fur and quickly finds her breasts in search of milk. Sloths can be breastfed for up to two years, only after this period they get used to solid food. Mom-sloth, as a rule, is caring and tender to her cub, but dad-sloth is no longer interested in his offspring.

• It is the sloths who set the world record for the slowest bowel movement, it lasts the longest for them, but on the other hand, it is carried out no more than once a week.
• Even after death, many sloths sometimes remain hanging on a branch, their grip is so tenacious.
• IN Lately sloths began to be tamed by people, and you can even meet owners who have their own pet sloth, like a pet or a dog. And why not, because sloths are good-natured, unpretentious, sleep most of the time and will not cause any particular inconvenience.

Sloth, video

And in conclusion, we suggest you watch an interesting documentary video about sloths in Panama.

This article is available at English language – .

Sloths are very peculiar animals from the order of the Teeth. Their closest relatives are anteaters and armadillos, outwardly completely dissimilar to sloths. The variety of sloths is small, there are only 5 of their species in the world, which are grouped into two families - three-toed and two-toed sloths.

Two-toed sloth, or unau (Choloepus didactylus).

All types of sloths are quite similar to each other. These are medium-sized animals, body length is 50-60 cm, and weight is 4-6 kg. In physique, sloths resemble an awkward monkey: they have very long limbs, tenacious fingers, and a relatively small head. The wool of sloths is very long, rather thick and shaggy, which is why they sometimes resemble a haystack. The tail is very short and buried in wool. Small ears and eyes are also difficult to distinguish. The muzzle of sloths is arranged in such a way that it seems that these animals are smiling all the time. Nevertheless, European discoverers considered sloths to be extremely ugly animals. However, the most amazing features of sloths are not in appearance, but in internal structure body. Almost all organs in sloths are arranged differently than in other mammals.

Let's start with the fact that the teeth of sloths are very primitive: they do not have roots and a surface layer of enamel, all teeth are the same in shape and size (only two-toed sloths have a pair of separate fangs). Because of this structure of the teeth of sloths, they were assigned to the detachment of the Toothless. The sense organs are not very well developed, sloths do not differ in either vigilance or hearing acuity, but they have a well-developed sense of smell. In general, the brain of these animals is small and primitively arranged, since sloths lead completely unusual image life. This way of life left its mark on others. internal organs sloths. Their liver is separated by the stomach from the abdominal wall and moved to the back, the spleen is located not on the left, as in all mammals, but on the right, the trachea makes amazing curls, the stomach and intestines are huge, and bladder so large that it supports the diaphragm. What is unusual in the life of these animals to transform the internal organs to such an extent?

Hoffman's sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni).

All species of sloths live only in South America and inhabit exclusively warm - equatorial and tropical - zones. They live only in the forests, because they lead tree image life. The life of sloths is not just connected with trees, it takes place entirely in their crowns. Here sloths eat, sleep, breed and… die. At the same time, sloths live in a completely different way than other types of arboreal animals (monkeys, squirrels, etc.). First, they move along the branches in limbo. The fact is that the fingers of sloths (and there are only 2 or 3 of them on the limbs) are extremely long, fused together along the entire length and ending in huge curved claws. With these claws, the sloth grabs the branch like a hook and hangs on it upside down. This method of movement is fundamentally different from the monkey or squirrel. These arboreal animals grasp the branches with their paws and hold on to them with the strength of their muscles.

But the sloth does not need strength at all, when he hangs on a branch, clinging to his claws, he does not spend any effort on it.

Secondly, due to such an energy-saving way of movement, sloths are not capable of fast and abrupt movements: they cannot jump, swing on branches. Their name perfectly reflects their main feature- enormous slowness. The speed of movement of a sloth amazes any person watching this animal. The sloth does everything slowly: slowly turns its neck to look around, slowly takes its paw off the branch, slowly moves it, slowly chews food ... The speed of movement of the sloth is only a few meters per minute! One gets the impression that nature itself wants to hurry this animal and comes to its aid. For example, in the neck of sloths there are 8-9 cervical vertebrae (and all other mammals, including the giraffe, have 7!). With so many vertebrae, sloths can easily turn their heads 180° (like owls) and look around their surroundings effortlessly. Due to the fact that sloths hang upside down all their lives, their internal organs have moved and taken on an almost mirror-like position. But that's not all. Due to their extreme slowness, sloths have an incredible low speed metabolism. Suffice it to say that normal temperature their body is only 30-33 ° and can fall to 24 °. No mammal, especially one living in a warm climate, has such a low body temperature! All metabolic processes in them proceed very slowly, food passes through the gastrointestinal tract for a week. Moreover, special symbiotic bacteria live in the intestines of sloths, which help them digest food. Sloths also sleep a lot - up to 10 hours a day.

The fur of sloths has a reverse direction of the pile: if in all animals the wool grows in the direction from the back to the stomach, then in sloths it is the other way around, therefore, in the belly-up position, water flows freely from their body.

But the most amazing thing is that sloths, unlike other arboreal animals, never ... defecate on trees. This phenomenon is doubly surprising, given how slow and clumsy they are. Nevertheless, the fact remains that sloths descend from trees to the ground to empty their intestines and bladder. Descent to the ground for a sloth is tantamount to a great journey and is associated with great danger to life, because sloths live in crowns at a height of 30-40 m above the ground, and on the ground they are absolutely defenseless against any predators. In this regard, sloths do not often perform such feats - they empty their intestines and bladder once a week! Now it’s clear why their bladder is so huge. By the way, on the ground, sloths bury their feces in a specially dug hole, like cats.

During descents to the ground, sloths sometimes change their location and move to neighboring trees. However, they also cannot walk. Long hooked claws and curved fingers do not allow them to move on the ground, so sloths crawl. A sloth moving on the ground is both a sad and comical sight. He crawls with his belly flattened and slowly (how could it be otherwise!) Pulls his clumsy paws forward, and then alternately pulls himself up on them like a wounded soldier. It seems that the sloth is on its last legs and is about to die, but in fact this is a completely normal pace of his life.

Brown-throated sloth (Bradypus variegatus) crawls on the ground.

However, the series of miracles does not end there. Sloths can still surprise many more. It turns out that there is one thing in their lives that sloths can do... fast! Incredibly, tree dwellers - sloths - can swim and do it perfectly! Their ability to swim did not develop by chance, because floods and river floods are not uncommon in the Amazon rainforests, it often happens that the water hides the land for several months a year. That's when the sloths swim between the trees. In the water, they swim clumsily, raking their paws like a rake, but they develop a relatively decent speed - up to 4 km / h. The fur of sloths gets wet both in the river and in the pouring rain in the crowns of trees, but this only benefits them. The fact is that microscopic algae Trichophilus and Cyanoderma often settle in the hairs of their fur, which color the wool in a greenish tint. These algae are peculiar to sloths, and even their names, translated from Latin, sound like “hair-loving” and “green skin”. The algae to some extent camouflage the sloths among the greenery of the trees.

A female three-toed sloth with a baby on her back swims across a river.

Sloths feed on leaves and flowers. tropical trees, especially cercopias, sometimes eat fruits and even small animals (lizards, insects) that accidentally fall on their teeth. For this reason, these animals are rarely kept in zoos, as it is difficult to provide them with suitable food. Different types of sloths seek food at different times of the day: three-toed sloths are active during the day, and two-toed sloths are predominantly at night. Their teeth grow continuously throughout their lives, which is an adaptation to feeding on plant foods. The stomach also has a complex structure: it has two sections, each of which consists of several chambers. Such a structure digestive system allows sloths to make the most of it nutrients from such a low-calorie feed as leaves. At the same time, sloths tolerate hunger well, which is rare in herbivorous animals.

Sloths lead a solitary lifestyle and, due to their inactivity, rarely collide with each other. Nevertheless, when they meet on the same tree, they tolerate fellows, never show aggression and calmly feed and even sleep next to each other. They do not often give voice, but three-toed sloths, for example, shout "ay-ay" and sniff loudly when dissatisfied. With the help of calls, males and females find each other during the mating season. Sloths do not have a specific breeding season, they can mate all year round, only three-toed sloths breed in March-April. Pregnancy different types lasts from 6 months to a year, which is a lot for animals of such small sizes. One baby is always born. Childbirth takes place on a tree, and the female during this process unhooks with her hind legs from the branches and hangs on her front legs. In this hanging position, she gives birth to a cub, which immediately grabs the mother's fur with its paws and crawls to her chest. The female, meanwhile, bites off the umbilical cord and only after that takes the usual position, hanging on four legs on a branch. For the first two months, the cub feeds exclusively on milk, then it begins to taste the leaves little by little. By nine months, he becomes completely independent, and finally matures by 2.5 years. Due to their inactivity and slow metabolism, sloths are distinguished long duration life. In captivity, they live up to 20 years, but in nature they die earlier.

A female three-toed sloth and her baby in the branches of a tree.

Sloths have few enemies, but they live in constant danger. Predators lie in wait for them everywhere. On the ground main danger they represent jaguars and cougars that attack helpless animals. These cats can also catch sloths on the lower branches of the crowns, as they are great at climbing trees. For this reason, sloths try to descend to the ground as little as possible and stay in the upper part of the crowns, where the branches are thin, and big cats cannot move on them. However, at the height of them, another misfortune awaits - predator birds harpies that literally take slow sloths off the branches with little effort. During floods, swimming sloths may be attacked by crocodiles. It should be noted that sloths staunchly fight for their lives and, despite their clumsiness, try to fend off attacks with powerful claws. Due to the slow metabolism, these animals tolerate various injuries well and are highly survivable. But not only the world of sloths is filled with enemies. They also have completely harmless friends. For example, moth butterflies can settle in the wool of these animals. They do no harm to sloths (as well as good), they just use them as a home.

The coat of this brown-throated sloth has a greenish tint due to the presence of microscopic algae in it. Not surprisingly, butterflies can also live in it.

The Indians of South and Central America have long hunted sloths, and later European discoverers joined them. These animals were hunted for tasty meat, which resembles lamb, and the skins went to the lining of the saddles. Fortunately, hunting did not undermine the number of sloths: the Indians killed only single animals within their needs, and for Europeans mass production was beyond their power. Finding a sloth in the forest is very difficult, as inactivity, silence and low-key coat color mask them, besides, killing sloths on high altitude also not easy. Often the killed sloth is left hanging on the branches (after all, he does not use muscle strength to keep on the branch), the same fate befalls sloths who died of natural death from old age. Now hunting for these animals is not in vogue, but their numbers are declining due to the destruction of natural habitats, as well as modern misfortune - power lines, on which sloths climb like trees and die from defeat. electric shock. Only the world's leading zoos can afford to have these interesting animals in their collection. Despite the general primitiveness, sloths are not alien to feelings and affection, in captivity they get used to people, and hand-fed cubs recognize their caregivers and “hurry” into their arms with all their might. Nowadays, no one considers sloths ugly, their positive image was best reflected by the creators of the cartoon " glacial period”, in which Sid the sloth plays one of the main roles.

Hoffman's sloth cub at the zoo.

Story

Also in the mountains and thickets are found very big snakes and other animals unknown to us, among which there are those that we call sloths, which is worth it just to see how ugly it is appearance and with what lethargy and sluggishness they move.

Description

Sloths mainly feed on tree leaves, although they may, on occasion, eat an insect or small lizard. The leaves are difficult to digest and have a very low calorie and nutritional value. For digestion vegetable fiber sloths use symbiont bacteria that are part of the microflora of their digestive tract. Eaten leaves are digested in the stomach of a mammal for about 90 hours. In a well-fed sloth, ⅔ of body weight can be food in the stomach.

Interestingly, all three-toed sloths in natural environment habitats feed mainly on the leaves and flowers of cecropia, and therefore it is quite difficult to keep them in captivity.

Due to the low calorie content of the leaves, the physiology and behavior of sloths is geared towards energy austerity. Sloths spend most of their time hanging on a tree branch with their back down. Large and sharp claws save them from falling from a tree. Sloths sleep 15 hours a day, but when awake, they move very slowly and only when necessary (hence the name). sloths have long neck, allowing them to get leaves from a large area without moving. (The sloths neck is very mobile and allows you to turn your head 270 degrees [ ], has 8 or 9 cervical vertebrae.) The body temperature of an active sloth is 30-34 ° C, and even lower at rest. Sloths really do not like to get down from trees, because on the ground they are completely helpless. In addition, it requires energy costs. They climb down to perform natural needs, which they do only once a week and sometimes to move to another tree. When sloths move in search of food, their speed of movement is only about 2 m per minute. Childbirth often takes place on a tree.

When needed, sloths are good swimmers. Their speed in water is about 4 km/h.

Vision is poorly developed, but they are able to distinguish colors, which is not typical for other mammals.

Acacia moth often settles in their wool. In addition, blue-green algae (bacteria capable of photosynthesis) live in the wool of many species of sloths, giving sloths a greenish color, making them invisible.

Due to the unusual position of the body of sloths, their organs are also located atypically. The liver is turned to the back and does not come into contact with the abdominal wall, the trachea is bent, etc. The coat is directed towards the ridge, unlike all other mammals.

Like all edentulous, the sloth brain contains very few convolutions, but the olfactory regions are well developed.

The body weight of sloths of different species varies from 4 to 9 kg, and the body length is about 60 centimeters.

Systematics

• Pygmy sloth ( Bradypus pygmaeus)
• Brown-throated sloth ( Bradypus variegatus)

Sloths

Sloths-tsev; pl. Zool. Family of mammals of the edentulous order.

family of mammals of the edentulous order. Length 50-65 cm. 5 species, in tropical forests of South and Central America. Active at night; during the day they sleep, curled up in the forks of branches. Inactive and very slow. They usually hang upside down from the branches. They descend to the ground only in extreme cases, crawling across open spaces (up to 30-40 m). Sometimes they spend their whole lives in the crown of one tree. They live alone, rarely in pairs. Collared sloth - in the IUCN Red List.

Sloths, a group of mammals (cm. MAMMALS) detachment of edentulous (cm. INCOMPLETE ANIMALS), which includes two families: two-toed sloths (Choloepidae, or Megalonychidae), which include the two-toed sloth (Choloepus didactylus) and Hoffman's sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni); and sloths (Bradypodidae), which include three-toed (Bradypus tridactylus), brown-throated (Bradypus variegatus) and collared (Bradypus torquatus) sloths. Widespread in the tropical forests of Central and South America.
Body length ranges from 50 to 75 cm, weight - from 4 to 8.5 kg. There is no tail (two-toed sloths) or it is very short (6-8 cm, sloths). The limbs are long, the hind legs are shorter than the front ones. Fingers 2 or 3, they grow together, but the long curved claws remain separate. The head is rounded, with a short muzzle. The ears are small, the eyes are directed forward. Sloths, unlike most mammals, have a variable number of cervical vertebrae: 6-8 in two-toed sloths and 6-9 in sloths. The neck is very mobile, and animals can turn their heads 270°.
They lead a sedentary arboreal lifestyle, moving along the branches mainly in a hanging position, with their backs down. Sloths have a low metabolic rate (cm. METABOLISM (in physiology, medicine))- Their body temperature can drop to 25°C. The body is covered with dense hair, growing from the belly to the back, so that rainwater flows freely from the animal hanging upside down. Single-celled green algae often settle in the hair, giving the animal's fur a brown-green tint.
They feed on leaves, buds, young shoots. The stomach of sloths is multi-chambered, adapted for digestion. plant food. To empty their intestines and bladder, sloths briefly descend to the ground, but they do this very rarely - once every few days. This is due to the fact that food passes through the digestive tract very slowly, and the bladder is able to stretch almost to the diaphragm.
Mating and birth occur in sloths in a hanging position. The duration of pregnancy is about 6 months in sloths and about a year in two-toed sloths. The only cub weighing about 300 g is born well formed. Until about 9 months of age, it is held by the mother on the chest, and reaches the size of an adult animal by 2.5 years. The life expectancy of sloths in captivity is 20-30 years. The collared sloth is listed in the International Red Book as a species endangered.

encyclopedic Dictionary . 2009 .

See what "sloths" are in other dictionaries:

Sloths: Sloths are narrowly slotted, three-toed sloths. Sloths are also called living and extinct animals of the suborder Folivora. Sloths dish, a variety of cabbage rolls ("lazy cabbage rolls") ... Wikipedia

Sloths, a family of arboreal, sedentary mammals. Body length 50 65 cm. 5 species, in the tropical forests of Central and South America. They usually hang upside down from the branches. They feed on plants. The collared sloth is rare... Modern Encyclopedia

Family of mammals of the edentulous order. Length 50 65 cm. 5 species, in tropical forests South. and Center. America. Active at night; during the day they sleep, curled up in the forks of branches. Inactive and very slow. They usually hang upside down from the branches. On the… … Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

sloths- tingininiai statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas taksono rangas šeima apibrėžtis Šeimoje 2 gentys. Kūno masė - 4 9 kg. atitikmenys: lot. Bradypodidae English. sloths; tree sloths vok. Faultiere rus. sloths pranc. bradypodides ryšiai: platesnis… … Žinduolių pavadinimų žodynas

- (Bradypodidae) a family of mammals of the edentulous order (See edentulous). Body length 50 64 cm, weigh 4 7 kg. The forelimbs are longer than the hind ones. On the fingers (there are 2 3 of them) powerful sickle-shaped claws. The neck is very mobile, which provides ... ... Big soviet encyclopedia

- (Bradypoda, Tardigrada, Phytophaga) family of edentulous (Edentata). The small short head is more or less rounded and looks like a monkey; the eyes are small, the auricles are rudimentary and hidden in the coat, the lips are hard, inactive. Zubov… … Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron Dictionary of many expressions

sloths- Two-toed sloth. sloths (Bradypodidae), a family of edentulous mammals endemic to Latin America. 2 genera with 7 species. Body length 5064 weigh 47 kg. L. inhabit rain rainforests Central and South America… Encyclopedic reference book "Latin America"