How are Sloths adapted to the rainforest? – (Adaptations of Sloth)

How are Sloths adapted to the rainforest? Here are the 10 Significant Adaptations of Sloth You Must Know

Sloths are also called Sloth bears. They live in the thick forest regions that include parts of Central and South American tropical rainforests including parts of Brazil and Peru.

These tree-living creatures also inhabit the forests of many types that include the cloud and lowland tropical forest of the Amazon as well.

With trees and thick forests everywhere, that have well adapted themselves to living atop the trees and in the rainforest-like wet environment that is full of predators everywhere.

Here are the 10 Significant Adaptations of Sloth You Must Know. Check These Out:

1. They are good swimmers

Being living in the rainforest which often remains flooded for about 4 to 5 months in a year, they have been adapted themselves as good swimmers.

However, they do swim only for a while in a week or two whenever the need arises. And, surprisingly they are strong swimmers.

Many researchers have noticed them dropping down from the treetops into the water and use their extended arms to swim and propel swiftly through the water.

And, it is also to be noted that they can swim at least 3 to 4 times faster than they can move on land.

Sloth can also lower the breathing and heartbeat rate to up to one-third of its normal rate, thus to maintain homeostasis so that it can hold its breath to up to 30 to 40 minutes underwater.

2. They are one of the slowest moving animals on land

Yes, they move very slowly with having a maximum speed of 3 metres (9.8 ft) per minute. However, they can swim with the speeds of 13.5 metres (44 ft) per minute.

Even while moving from one tree to another or from one tree branch to another, it takes time for them. Just as said that it would take about a minute or two to move 15 feet in a tree for a sloth.

Sloths are related to anteaters and armadillos, and as time has passed they have adapted themselves to eating tree leaves only and remaining 98% of their lifetime atop the trees.

And, the leaf diet is very poor in nutrients and the intake of calories is very low.

So, to overcome this poor nutritional availability they have adapted themselves over the period of evolution to slowing down their body metabolism and movement just in order to conserve energy.

3. They can camouflage very well

Camouflaging helps them to hide from predators like Jaguars, eagles, etc. that can easily prey upon them as they are extremely slow-moving animals.

When they remain atop the trees, they match with the color of the tree leaves very often, thus making them partially unrecognizable in their surroundings.

When these slow-moving animals remain on land, they can also camouflage themselves for a while, thus saving themselves from land predators.

Researchers also say that the Sloths being slow-moving animals turn their fur a great environment for algae, moss, and other fungi to grow.

Due to the growth of algae, moss, and other fungi the body fur appears white-greenish color, while the two-toed sloths usually have gray-brown fur.

Green algae grow from their hair, enabling them to better blend into the leaves and vines of the treetop canopy.

Also, as they live in the wet environment of the rainforest they do often rub themselves against the tree branches and leaves and so their body fur gets wet and moist very often. This has made their fur home to these algae, moss, and other fungi to grow.

Some researchers have also mentioned some symbiotic associations between the algae, moss, fungi that grows on the fur with that of being beneficial to sloth.

And moreover, some researchers also say that their body fur hairs are with unique structures that give suitable surfaces for the algae and moss to grow well.

4. They have long-sharp claws

The long-sharp claws of their forelimbs help them to hold and dig to the substrate, let it be land or a tree branch, and pull (drag as they can’t walk) their body forward or upward.

Also, their specialized hands and feet have long curved claws to allow them to hang upside down from branches without any much effort, as their long curved nails can wrap easily around the trees.

There are two types of sloth: two-toed sloth and three-toed sloth. Both types of sloth have three fingers and claws on their hind limbs.

But the difference is that the two-toed sloth has two fingers and claws on their forelimbs, while the three-toed sloth has three only. But they do all have long-sharp claws.

5. The three-toed sloth can turn their heads to 270°

Yes, the three-toed sloth can turn their head to 270° angle and it’s a great adaptation for them to keep an eye out for predators as they move very slowly, by being able to turn their head widely.

The two-toed sloths have 6 vertebrae while the three-toed sloths have 9 vertebrae. Vertebrae are those individual interlocking bones that form the spinal column or backbone.

So, it’s why the three-toed sloth can turn their heads to 270°, while the two-toed sloth can only turn it to 90° being limited.

In simple words, three-toed sloths can have up to three extra neck vertebrae at the base of their neck as compared to the two-toed sloths. This gives them the ability to rotate their neck to up to 270 degrees in either direction or three-quarters of a complete rotation.

6. They have a four-chambered stomach

Like ruminants, they also have a four-chambered stomach. The millions of microbes inside their stomach help derive the nutrition they need by breaking down the plant contents like cellulose, starch, etc.

Often, at night time, you will find them eating leaves, shoots, and fruit from the trees and get almost all of their water from juicy plants.

Their four-chambered stomach limits their eating by slowing down their rate of digestion, as they only eat when the majority of the ingested food leave the stomach and enter the small intestine after being fully digested.

They have a four-chambered stomach like a cow, to process all the vegetation, but short intestines that don’t extract as much energy and nutrition contents.

This simply means that the food intake and energy expenditure are likely limited by the digestion rate and room in the stomach.

7. They have long, thick, sticky tongues to pull and eat leaves

Yes, their tongue is long, thick, muscular, and sticky enough due to the presence of a carpet of tiny pointing tissue spikes that help them pull the leaves to their mouth.

They don’t have that ability and mechanism to tear, catch, and hold leaves from plants so well.

So, they go near the leaves and use their sticky tongue to tear the leaves of the tree.

8. They have the slowest metabolism in the whole Animal Kingdom

They have evolved themselves to conserve energy to adapt to their kind of environment. In doing so, they have learned to maintain really very slow-body metabolism.

They do have a slow digestion process that can take a week or two to digest a week old ingested food. This has made them survive with the lowest use of energy.

Sloths (mainly the three-toed sloths) have the lowest rate of daily energy use of any non-hibernating or non-aestivating mammal found on earth, and use the heat of the sun to thermoregulate themselves.

The circulatory, respiratory, excretory systems, and all other metabolic activities run really slow. That’s also the reason why they are so lazy and move extremely slowly.

Also, that the sloths, mostly the three-toed sloths, spend 98% of their time in the forest canopy eating and sleeping. They don’t move much.

9. They’re mostly nocturnal, sleeping during the daytime and waking up at night to eat

Yes, sloths are nocturnal. They are known to sleep for about 14 to 16 hours a day during the daytime.

While they wake up at the night time for feeding or roaming around a bit between the tree branches.

They do also remain active during the dusk and dawn times as well when the sunlight is low.

Sometimes, you’ll see a sloth being active during the daytime but that’s not always the rule.

Mostly you will find that the two-toed sloth species are completely nocturnal. That is they sleep while being motionless and almost invisible in the forest canopy all day long and not moving until after dark.

So, being nocturnal is a big advantage to them to safe themselves. As, they are really very slow moving animals, that are often vulnerable to being preyed upon by various predators roaming around during the daytime.

10. They remain hanging from the tree branches with a grip aided by their long claws

Their body biophysics works in such a way that they can interlock each of the claws of their two limbs across the branches and remain hanging on the high tree branches.

They do remain in an upside-down position all of the time. This hanging position doesn’t need any excess of bodywork and energy to remain suspended, as that’s their natural way of staying atop the trees most of the time.

They even love to sleep hanging upside down. This is made possible by the specialized hooked claws sloths have.

This is a good adaptation for their tree-living habit. And, it is also to be noted that many sloths have been also been known to retain their grip and remain suspended from a branch while being dead.

Researchers also say that their upside down hanging position also help them stay away from predators like harpy eagles, jaguars, etc. and camouflage very well with their surroundings.

---

What are some behavioral adaptations of a sloth?

The most prominent and commonly seen behavioral adaptation of sloth is that they are really very very slow while moving on both lands and on trees. That’s their kind of adaptation to conserve energy and survive on a very low amount of nutrition from the leaves.

Yes, they feed on leaves and remains on the treetop for a about a week or two. They only come down once in a week or two to urinate and defecate on the ground within their respective territory.

They eat leaves and it takes them around a week or so to digest a one time meal. Their four-chambered stomach is home to millions of microbes that ferment and digest the ingested flood slowly taking a week or so.

You will often see them sleeping for about 14 to 16 hours a day. They remain in an upside-down hanging position while holding the tree branches or when sleeping or eating.

Almost every work of the sloth’s life depends on its ability to hang upside down on branches. It mates, sleeps, eats, and even gives birth in this position.

They cannot walk but are actually good swimmers when the rainforest floods. They are seen swimming in search of mates and other kinds of stuff.

Yes, they are also nocturnal that helps them avoid diurnal predators. At night time, they eat leaves, shoots, and fruits from the trees and they do fulfill their water requirements from juicy plants.

They either sleep or remain almost motionless during the daytime. This behavioral adaptation has helped them avoid diurnal predators as well.

They have been reported to moving between different trees up to four to six times in a day. This allows multiple sloths to occupy and share the overlapping home ranges without competing with each other.

We all know that they have long claws on their forelimbs and hindlimbs, and so, they are not able to walk but drag their bodies when they move. They do this by digging or grabbing the substratum with their forelimbs claws and pulling or dragging their body to move forward on land or upward on the tree.

If they are caught by a predator on land, then these slow-moving animals will often try to defend themselves by clawing with their long sharp teeth and 3- to 4-inch-long claws, and they can do biting as well.

Sloths mate and give birth while hanging in the trees. While the baby sloths remain clinging to their mothers till they get nine months old.

Soon, after nine to twelve months, after the baby sloths have grown up, then the mother sloths are known to leave their home tree territory to their offsprings and move elsewhere to a new tree territory.

It has also been reported that the adults lead a solitary life, and they do mark their territories using anal scent glands and also by urinating and defecating on the ground.

---

In brief: What is special about a sloth?

Their body fur is home to algae, moss, fungi, and even various invertebrates like cockroaches, moths, beetles, and other insects that feed on the algae.

Two-toed sloths have two fingers and claws in their forelimbs, while the three-toed sloths have three fingers and claws in their forelimbs.

Two-toed sloths can turn their neck to about 270° and this makes them unique from other mammals. While the three-toed sloths can turn their neck to about 90°.

Their incredible biophysics allows them to spend 90% of their life hanging upside down with less amount of work done and energy requirements.

Sloths can stay in a hanging upside down position because studies have shown that this is made possible because their organs are attached to their rib cage, which means they don’t weigh down on the lungs. Thus leading to not much problem in their breathing when they are in such a position.

They have four-chambered stomachs that help them digest the plant components like cellulose, etc. with a very slow metabolism rate.

It is also to be noted that the three-toed sloths, unlike most of the other mammals, can’t maintain a constant body temperature and so can’t thermoregulate very well. So, you will often find them climbing up to the trees to get themselves warmed up from the sun’s heat.

---

What do sloths eat?

The sloths have adapted themselves to eating leaves, twigs, flowers, and fruits. It gets all of its water from the food it eats and so, it doesn’t drink any water from the other water sources.

They do mostly feed on buds, leaves, and tender shoots. Some of the sloth species can also consume a vast range of insects, nestling, bird eggs, lizards, and carrion too.

It has been seen that mostly the two-toed sloths like the Hoffmanns Two-toed Sloth and Linnaeus Two-toed Sloth are omnivores meaning that they are well-known to feed upon tree leaves, flowers,  twigs, buds, fruits, flowers, and even on the insects.

The three-toed sloths that include the Maned Three-toed Sloth and the Pygmy Three-toed Sloth are strictly herbivores.

However, it’s normal for all sloths to feed upon the various insects, as while eating any leaves or fruits it can undoubtedly ingest the various forms of insects such as caterpillars and eggs in the process.

It is also to be noted that whatever they do eat they eat very little per day as compared to the other mammals because their digestive system is really very very slow.

So, a sloth can be best called a minimalist because it is so lazy that it seems like it does only what it must to stay alive.