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SLOTH
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SLOTH , the name for the various representatives of a See also:group of arboreal tropical See also:American mammals belonging to the See also:order See also:Edentata (q.v.). Sloths are some of the most completely arboreal of all mammals, living entirely among the branches of trees; and usually See also:hanging beneath them, back downwards, and clinging with the See also:hook-See also:line See also:organs to which the terminations of their limbs are reduced. When obliged to descend to the ground, which they rarely, if ever, do voluntarily, sloths—owing to the unequal length of their limbs and the See also:peculiar conformation of their feet, which allow the animals to See also:rest only on the See also:outer edge—crawl along a level See also:surface with considerable difficulty. Though generally slow and inactive, even when in their natural haunts, they can on occasions travel with considerable rapidity along the branches, and as they do not leap, like most other arboreal creatures, they avail themselves of the swaying of the boughs by the See also:wind to pass from See also:tree to tree. They feed on leaves and See also:young shoots and fruits, which they gather in their mouth, the fore-limbs aiding in dragging boughs within reach, but not being used as hands. When sleeping, sloths See also:roll themselves up in a See also:ball, and, owing to the dry shaggy See also:character of their See also:hair, are inconspicuous among the mosses and See also:lichens with which the trees of their native forests abound. The concealment thus afforded is heightened in some See also:species by the peculiar greenish tint of the hair, due not to the See also:colour of the hair itself, but to the presence upon its surface of an alga, the lodgment of which is facilitated by the fluted or rough surface of the exterior, and its growth is promoted by the dampness of the See also:atmosphere in the gloomy tropical forests. Sloths are The Unau or Two-toed Sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni). nocturnal, silent, inoffensive and solitary animals, and produce usually but one young at See also:birth. They appear to show an almost reptilian tenacity of See also:life, surviving the most severe injuries and large doses of poisons, and exhibiting longer persistence of irritability of See also:muscular See also:tissue after See also:death than other mammals. Several other animals, such as the See also:African See also:potto-lemurs, and the See also:Asiatic lorises, are popularly called sloths. End of Article: SLOTHAdditional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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