Hippo's Wild World of Animals - Random Animal Facts
Aug 29, 2015 12:31:05 GMT -5
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Post by Hippo on Aug 29, 2015 12:31:05 GMT -5
Hi all and welcome to this thread which is merely about random animal facts, I'll be updating it every week or so depending how this first one goes and what species I think would be interesting. First on the board is very fitting, it's the sloth!
The sloth; cute, slow, shaggy, these are occasionally the things we consider about them but do we really know the inner sloth?
Small bit of history: they are one of the earliest species of mammal having existed for 50 million years. In the before times of the Palaeocene era, sloths were ground-based rather than tree-based like now and far larger, measuring up to 20 metres in length and estimated to have weighed around 4 tons for the larger species of sloth.
The sloths of today can divided into two groups; the three-toed sloths and the two-toed sloths. The reason for their stark differences is due to divergent evolution, often the sloth is used as a prime example of it.
The two-toed sloth (somewhat weirdly named because they only have two claws on their front limbs, the rear limbs have three claws) however is a different looking creature with shorter claws and limbs and a slightly piggy snout but it lacks a tail, something the three-toed sloth does have though it's very short at around 2 centimetres long.
The three-toed sloths are more nocturnal and like to move in the night and the two-toed sloths prefer moving during the day.
Many sloths are slow and they earn that trait due to a low metabolism rate similar to the koala and burn a relatively large amount of energy moving due to their low energy diet so stay still to conserve energy.
Because of their inactivity, their fur is essentially something of a mini-ecosystem in itself containing bugs, algae and sometimes moss, the latter two being useful for camouflage.
On the ground, the sloth has to use that camouflage as it only goes to the toilet once a week and has fairly weak hind legs so if it finds itself far from home, it can use its arms to drag itself pitifully across the ground with until it reaches its home tree.
The sloth; cute, slow, shaggy, these are occasionally the things we consider about them but do we really know the inner sloth?
The sloths of today can divided into two groups; the three-toed sloths and the two-toed sloths. The reason for their stark differences is due to divergent evolution, often the sloth is used as a prime example of it.
The two-toed sloth (somewhat weirdly named because they only have two claws on their front limbs, the rear limbs have three claws) however is a different looking creature with shorter claws and limbs and a slightly piggy snout but it lacks a tail, something the three-toed sloth does have though it's very short at around 2 centimetres long.
The three-toed sloths are more nocturnal and like to move in the night and the two-toed sloths prefer moving during the day.
Many sloths are slow and they earn that trait due to a low metabolism rate similar to the koala and burn a relatively large amount of energy moving due to their low energy diet so stay still to conserve energy.
Because of their inactivity, their fur is essentially something of a mini-ecosystem in itself containing bugs, algae and sometimes moss, the latter two being useful for camouflage.
On the ground, the sloth has to use that camouflage as it only goes to the toilet once a week and has fairly weak hind legs so if it finds itself far from home, it can use its arms to drag itself pitifully across the ground with until it reaches its home tree.
A sloth is essentially vegetarian in the loosest sense in the same way a squirrel might be, it'll eat berries, leaves, shoots and branches predominantly but will stretch out occasionally and eat bugs or small animals if it can. Like the koala, most of the time for a sloth is spent asleep as digestion in itself can be draining.
To finish things out, here's some pictures of some cute baby sloths.
To finish things out, here's some pictures of some cute baby sloths.
If you have any random slothy facts or pictures of your own, post 'em here. If you have suggestions for future animals to find out about, I'm welcoming them too!
