Sloths don’t really have it easy when it comes to predators.
They pretty much have an inability to move at anything other than a snail’s pace, and no defense mechanisms to speak of.
They’re so vulnerable, in fact, that they spend most of their time at a standstill in the hopes they simply won’t be noticed.
The only time they really leave the trees, for example, is to go to the bathroom – and that’s only once a week!
Modern day sloths are a shell of their former selves.
Sloths today are quite small creatures compared to their ancestors.
All of the sloth species alive today grow no longer than 31 inches (80 cm), and weigh up to 17 pounds (7.7 kg).
Giant sloths, the modern day sloth’s ancestors, were a completely different story though.
These ancient sloths lived on the ground, instead of trees, and some of them were up to 20 ft (6 m) long and weighed close to 5 tons!
They disappeared off the face of the earth around 11,000 years ago, most likely due to hunting.
Sloths spend up to 90% of their lives hanging upside down.
If you were to try and hang upside down for any extended period of time, all the blood would rush to your head and you’d feel a little ill after a while.
Sloths, on the other hand, can do this almost endlessly!
This is thanks to the way they have evolved – their internal organs are attached to their abdomen, which allows them to breathe easily in such positions.
