Sloths: Life in Slow Motion

For being so slow, the sloth has quickly become popular over the past few years. Sloths show up on T-shirts, get lots of views on YouTube, and star in movies. But this sleepyhead isn’t what it seems. Science is finally catching up to see how this calm critter shows that our creative God wanted all sorts of creatures in his world.

The Ultimate Energy Saver

Just because the sloth is slow doesn’t mean it’s lazy. The sloth only sleeps about 10–15 hours a day in the wild. That’s not much more than you do. But even when it’s not sleeping, the sloth spends most of its time resting to save energy.

The sloth is not so much sleepy as it is efficient. The sloth has less muscle and a lower metabolism (muh-TA-buh-li-zm) than many other animals. (Metabolism is the body’s process of changing food into energy.) So the sloth moves only when necessary, a few feet per minute. Usually, it uses up the most energy during its weekly trip to the base of its tree to poo.

The secret to the sloth’s slowness is, in part, what it eats. Sloths are folivores (FO-lih-vors), which means they mostly eat the buds and leaves of plants. But leafy vegetables don’t give you long-lasting energy like protein from meat.

Because the sloth holds onto its food for so long and only poos once a week, its stomach and intestines are always full and heavy. This would be a problem, since the sloth spends most of its time hanging upside down. But God designed the sloth with special connectors that secure its stomach, liver, and kidneys in the belly. Without these connectors, the organs would press against the sloth’s lungs and diaphragm (the muscle below the lungs that helps with breathing). If it struggled to breathe, the sloth would use up valuable energy.

Super Sloth Strength

Sloths are super strong—and you would be too if you spent your life hanging from trees. The sloth’s curved claws help it cling to branches. Its fingers work differently from ours. It has to force its fingers open—like a clip on a cereal bag. The sloth can keep its muscles contracted (tightened) longer than other animals—perfect for hanging around in trees.

With all that strength, the sloth is also an excellent swimmer. In fact, it can swim three times faster than it moves on land. Because the sloth can lower its heart rate, it can hold its breath and stay underwater for up to 40 minutes.

Never Alone

The sloth lives a lonely life in the rainforests of Central and South America. But it’s never really alone. Turns out, the sloth has a sidekick—many sidekicks—hanging out in its fur. Some researchers found roaches, ticks, mites, and beetles in the sloth’s fur. But the most common sidekick is a species of moth known as the sloth moth.

When the sloth takes its weekly hike to the ground to poo, the moths lay their eggs in the sloth’s waste. The larvae eat the waste, and when they’re grown, they fly up to join the sloth.

What’s in it for the sloth?

Researchers believe that, after the moths die, their bodies keep the sloth’s fur full of chemicals that create the perfect environment for algae to grow. That green coat of algae on the sloth’s fur makes the sloth almost invisible among the trees. Though sloths are harmless, they are easy prey (animals that are hunted and eaten) in our sin-cursed world. Adam and Eve’s sin brought death into the world, and now some animals eat other animals. God designed camouflage to be the sloth’s first line of protection.

Slowly But Surely Bringing God Glory

The sloth is much more than an adorable, sleepy ball of fur. Its features and habits were designed by an imaginative Creator. His colorful creation includes the cheetah and peregrine falcon—two of the fastest animals—and the pokey sloth. People who believe in evolution should expect slower and weaker animals to go extinct. But in God’s creation, every creature has a purpose!

Next time you get impatient with someone who isn’t exactly like you, remember that God created all kinds of creatures and people. No matter how fast or slow, each one has something to offer, and each one has a purpose—to glorify the Creator.