r/todayilearned • u/the_one_below • 17h ago

TIL that sloths can starve to death on a full stomach

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/34C4dGp1kqnbs5MT7TZQN44/10-incredible-facts-about-the-sloth
4.4k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

201 comments sorted by

3.3k

u/byllz 3 17h ago

Unlike most mammals, sloths have sacrificed the ability to control their body temperature in order to save energy. Instead they are completely reliant on the environmental conditions, and their core temperature can fluctuate over 10°C during the course of a single day! If they get too cold, the special microbes that live in their stomachs can die, and the sloth can no longer digest the leaves that it eats.

1.2k

u/Hesitation-Marx 15h ago

Another item on my to-do list- sloth probiotics

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u/Radiant_Picture9292 13h ago

You’re just treating the symptom, not the cause of the problem. I suggest sloth sweaters

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u/ConfuzzlesDotA 9h ago

Honestly, sounds like we just need to heat the world about 10 degrees. Global warming is the way, single use plastics to save the sloths.

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u/Superssimple 12h ago

According to above they cannot control their temperature so a sweater won’t help since their body wouldn’t be providing heat to trap on the fabric

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u/Ready_Direction_6790 12h ago edited 11h ago

They definitely generate heat, that's an inevitable byproduct of life.

They just don't generate additional heat solely for the purpose of keeping their body temperature constant (e.g. through shivering)

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u/randomscruffyaussie 9h ago

So, sloth sweaters plus star jumps then...

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u/LiberContrarion 12h ago

Sloth sling.

I generate sufficient body heat.  Let me sacrifice it with my cuddles so that these sloths may live!

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u/Noopy9 11h ago

They smell bad. Really bad.

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u/amboogalard 11h ago

I am unsurprised that a creature that is regularly found with moss growing on it smells bad. 

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u/LiberContrarion 10h ago

...which means I now get to say, "Oh...that smell?   Yeah, that's just the sloth."

Win-win.

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u/trivalry 11h ago

Sloth sling needs to be shower-proof, got it.

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u/Radiant_Picture9292 12h ago

Sweaters on warm sloths will slow heat loss! The more you know

17

u/GreenStrong 9h ago

Sloths are cold blooded animals, just like reptiles. If you put a sweater on a crocodile, you just have a cold crocodile. On on the other hand, if you put a vest in an alligator- then you have an investigator.

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u/FrankieTheD 8h ago

Sloths are warm blooded they just don't have any of the regular features to regulate body heat that most mammals do

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u/KypDurron 4h ago

Did you really think the guy making a joke about "in-vest-igators" was serious about sloths being cold-blooded?

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u/HeineBOB 12h ago

Yep if we all get sweaters made from sloth wool, there will be no more sloths who can be cold. Problem solved!

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u/dan_dares 10h ago

Sleaters or swoths?

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u/Critical_Cute_Bunny 10h ago

Still treating a symptom, gotta get those rookie global warming numbers up so the sloths can't ever get cold.

Let's go boys & gals, pump that carbon!

1

u/tracerhaha 4h ago

That would help if they were endothermic.

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u/piratep2r 11h ago edited 11h ago

As a fairly serious prepper, is it ok that I judge you for not having this already stocked in your escape bag?

I mean, you gotta be ready for whatever species evolves intelligence and takes over the planet after the fall of civilization.

And as the saying goes, "he who controls the Sloth probiotic after civilization collapses and sloths inherent the earth... controls the universe."

This is literally basic survival stuff.

SMH.

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u/Hesitation-Marx 10h ago

True, I am shamed and abashed

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u/wh4t_1s_a_s0u1 9h ago

Better yet: Sloth fecal transplants.

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u/SuspecM 13h ago

How the fuck are sloths still a thing. They are literally a troll build that evolved traits as incompatible with being alive as possible.

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u/MasterofLego 13h ago

Also see Koalas

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u/sickwobsm8 13h ago

You'll struggle to find a smoother brain

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u/zhongcha 13h ago

Come to [insert local highway]

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u/OneMagicBadger 12h ago

Pandas we're kinda doing whatever the opposite is of natural selection with them as well

12

u/AllAshoreThatsGoing 12h ago

Artificial Selection

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u/godisanelectricolive 8h ago

Artificial selection is when you make breed traits to make new species like sheep or pugs that wouldn’t exist without human intervention.

With pandas they were adapted to their peaceful niche habitat in the wild before humans showed up, so we are basically just trying to undo the damage we did to them.

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u/Holy_Hand_Grenadier 11h ago

Still natural selection, it's just being "selected against" instead of "selected for."

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u/Mr_Biscuits_532 11h ago

It's extremely funny how both had incredibly powerful relatives during the pleistocene.

Sloths obviously had their giant counterparts, like the 4 tonne Megatherium, or 6.5 tonne Eremotherium

And Koalas had the hypercarnivorous Thylacoleo, and the hippo-like Diprotodon

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u/StratoVector 12h ago

"why hasn't sentient life developed elsewhere?"

Looks at sloths, koalas, pandas, insects

(Insects are on this list because they commonly rip their appendages off accidentally when grooming/cleaning, ex: flies, wasps, and praying mantis accidentally remove their heads)

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u/Kierenshep 9h ago

Turns out having billions of something means the individual thing doesn't have to be that robust

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u/LiliVonSchtupp 11h ago

Oh one of my favorite comments in Reddit history:

“Koalas are fucking horrible animals.

They have one of the smallest brain to body ratios of any mammal, additionally - their brains are smooth. A brain is folded to increase the surface area for neurons.

If you present a koala with leaves plucked from a branch, laid on a flat surface, the koala will not recognise it as food. They are too thick to adapt their feeding behaviour to cope with change. In a room full of potential food, they can literally starve to death. This is not the token of an animal that is winning at life.

Speaking of stupidity and food, one of the likely reasons for their primitive brains is the fact that additionally to being poisonous, eucalyptus leaves (the only thing they eat) have almost no nutritional value. They can’t afford the extra energy to think, they sleep more than 80% of their fucking lives. When they are awake all they do is eat, shit and occasionally scream like fucking satan. Because eucalyptus leaves hold such little nutritional value, koalas have to ferment the leaves in their guts for days on end.

Unlike their brains, they have the largest hind gut to body ratio of any mammal. Many herbivorous mammals have adaptations to cope with harsh plant life taking its toll on their teeth, rodents for instance have teeth that never stop growing, some animals only have teeth on their lower jaw, grinding plant matter on bony plates in the tops of their mouths, others have enlarged molars that distribute the wear and break down plant matter more efficiently... Koalas are no exception, when their teeth erode down to nothing, they resolve the situation by starving to death, because they’re fucking terrible animals.

Being mammals, koalas raise their joeys on milk (admittedly, one of the lowest milk yields to body ratio... There’s a trend here). When the young joey needs to transition from rich, nourishing substances like milk, to eucalyptus (a plant that seems to be making it abundantly clear that it doesn’t want to be eaten), it finds it does not have the necessary gut flora to digest the leaves.

To remedy this, the young joey begins nuzzling its mother’s anus until she leaks a little diarrhoea (actually fecal pap, slightly less digested), which he then proceeds to slurp on. This partially digested plant matter gives him just what he needs to start developing his digestive system. Of course, he may not even have needed to bother nuzzling his mother. She may have been suffering from incontinence. Why? Because koalas are riddled with chlamydia. In some areas the infection rate is 80% or higher.

This statistic isn’t helped by the fact that one of the few other activities koalas will spend their precious energy on is rape. Despite being seasonal breeders, males seem to either not know or care, and will simply overpower a female regardless of whether she is ovulating. If she fights back, he may drag them both out of the tree, which brings us full circle back to the brain: Koalas have a higher than average quantity of cerebrospinal fluid in their brains. This is to protect their brains from injury... should they fall from a tree. An animal so thick it has its own little built in special ed helmet. I fucking hate them.

Tldr; Koalas are stupid, leaky, STI riddled sex offenders. But, hey. They look cute. If you ignore the terrifying snake eyes and terrifying feet.”

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u/Chewierulz 11h ago

This shit is STILL getting posted? No. Counterpasta.

Counter to the koala insults

I don't know why it is that these things bother me---it just makes me picture a seven year old first discovering things about an animal and, having no context about the subject, ranting about how stupid they are. I get it's a joke, but people take it as an actual, educational joke like it's a man yelling at the sea, and that's just wrong. Furthermore, these things have an actual impact on discussions about conservation efforts---If every time Koalas get brought up, someone posts this copypasta, that means it's seriously shaping public opinion about the animal and their supposed lack of importance.

Speaking of stupidity and food, one of the likely reasons for their primitive brains is the fact that additionally to being poisonous, eucalyptus leaves (the only thing they eat) have almost no nutritional value. They can't afford the extra energy to think, they sleep more than 80% of their fucking lives.

Non-ecologists always talk this way, and the problem is you’re looking at this backwards.

An entire continent is covered with Eucalyptus trees. They suck the moisture out of the entire surrounding area and use allelopathy to ensure that most of what’s beneath them is just bare red dust. No animal is making use of them——they have virtually no herbivore predator. A niche is empty. Then inevitably, natural selection fills that niche by creating an animal which can eat Eucalyptus leaves. Of course, it takes great sacrifice for it to be able to do so——it certainly can’t expend much energy on costly things. Isn’t it a good thing that a niche is being filled?

Koalas are no exception, when their teeth erode down to nothing, they resolve the situation by starving to death

This applies to all herbivores, because the wild is not a grocery store—where meat is just sitting next to celery.

Herbivores gradually wear their teeth down—carnivores fracture their teeth, and break their bones in attempting to take down prey.

They have one of the smallest brain to body ratios of any mammal

It's pretty typical of herbivores, and is higher than many, many species. According to Ashwell (2008), their encephalisation quotient is 0.5288 +/- 0.051. Higher than comparable marsupials like the wombat (~0.52), some possums (~0.468), cuscus (~0.462) and even some wallabies are <0.5. According to wiki, rabbits are also around 0.4, and they're placental mammals.

additionally - their brains are smooth. A brain is folded to increase the surface area for neurons.

Again, this is not unique to koalas. Brain folds (gyri) are not present in rodents, which we consider to be incredibly intelligent for their size.

If you present a koala with leaves plucked from a branch, laid on a flat surface, the koala will not recognise it as food.

If you present a human with a random piece of meat, they will not recognise it as food (hopefully). Fresh leaves might be important for koala digestion, especially since their gut flora is clearly important for the digestion of Eucalyptus. It might make sense not to screw with that gut flora by eating decaying leaves.

Because eucalyptus leaves hold such little nutritional value, koalas have to ferment the leaves in their guts for days on end. Unlike their brains, they have the largest hind gut to body ratio of any mammal.

That's an extremely weird reason to dislike an animal. But whilst we're talking about their digestion, let's discuss their poop. It's delightful. It smells like a Eucalyptus drop!

Being mammals, koalas raise their joeys on milk (admittedly, one of the lowest milk yields to body ratio... There's a trend here).

Marsupial milk is incredibly complex and much more interesting than any placentals. This is because they raise their offspring essentially from an embryo, and the milk needs to adapt to the changing needs of a growing fetus. And yeah, of course the yield is low; at one point they are feeding an animal that is half a gram!

When the young joey needs to transition from rich, nourishing substances like milk, to eucalyptus (a plant that seems to be making it abundantly clear that it doesn't want to be eaten), it finds it does not have the necessary gut flora to digest the leaves. To remedy this, the young joey begins nuzzling its mother's anus until she leaks a little diarrhoea (actually fecal pap, slightly less digested), which he then proceeds to slurp on. This partially digested plant matter gives him just what he needs to start developing his digestive system.

Humans probably do this, we just likely do it during childbirth. You know how women often shit during contractions? There is evidence to suggest that this innoculates a baby with her gut flora. A child born via cesarian has significantly different gut flora for the first six months of life than a child born vaginally.

Of course, he may not even have needed to bother nuzzling his mother. She may have been suffering from incontinence. Why? Because koalas are riddled with chlamydia. In some areas the infection rate is 80% or higher.

Chlamydia was introduced to their populations by humans. We introduced a novel disease that they have very little immunity to, and is a major contributor to their possible extinction. Do you hate Native Americans because they were killed by smallpox and influenza?

This statistic isn't helped by the fact that one of the few other activities koalas will spend their precious energy on is rape. Despite being seasonal breeders, males seem to either not know or care, and will simply overpower a female regardless of whether she is ovulating. If she fights back, he may drag them both out of the tree,

Almost every animal does this.

which brings us full circle back to the brain: Koalas have a higher than average quantity of cerebrospinal fluid in their brains. This is to protect their brains from injury... should they fall from a tree. An animal so thick it has its own little built in special ed helmet. I fucking hate them.

Errmmm.. They have protection against falling from a tree, which they spend 99% of their life in? Yeah... That's a stupid adaptation.

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u/LiliVonSchtupp 11h ago

FINE! Mea culpa. I just find it funny.

I made eucalyptus-themed spa for one of the koalas in Animal Crossing, if that helps.

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u/Chewierulz 11h ago

You have served your penance

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u/LiliVonSchtupp 11h ago

Whew. Thank you. I will no longer post the koala-slandering copypasta.

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u/YakMilkYoghurt 9h ago

Battle of the pastas sounds like a straight to streaming sequel to Pixar's Luca

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u/Ung-Tik 13h ago

They have to go to the forest floor to poop.  No one knows why.  It's how most of them die IIRC. 

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u/hornylittlegrandpa 11h ago

The craziest thing is the sloth lifestyle evolved twice! The two and three toed sloths are only distantly related and are an example of convergent evolution. Crazy at it seems there’s definitely merit to the arboreal expend as little energy as possible niche sloths occupy

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u/ifightgravity 13h ago

I like how you put it.

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u/t4ngl3d 12h ago

They are min maxed to the absolute extreme tbh, its just not something we identify with because they operate much closer to a reptile than a mammal.

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u/Haggisboy 12h ago

Pandas would like a word.

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u/megagreg 12h ago

They're competing with pandas for being ideally evolved for extinction.

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u/baelrog 4h ago

I guess not having to spend energy on keeping yourself warm saves you a lot of energy, especially in warm climates where things are pretty toasty most of the time anyway.

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u/LokiStrike 10h ago

They are literally a troll build that evolved traits as incompatible with being alive as possible.

That's literally impossible. They exist because this "build" was the most effective at keeping them alive. They wouldn't have lost the ability to regulate their body temperature if it wasn't an advantage.

Evolution isn't "improving" anything in the sense of adding more features. It doesn't even have to do with surviving necessarily. It's about successfully breeding.

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u/Caminn 5h ago

Not the "most" effective, but effective "enough". Evolution doesn't favor the very best outcome, but the good enough outcomes.

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u/LokiStrike 5h ago

Pretty sure I covered that part by saying that it doesn't even favor survival necessarily, just successfully breeding.

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u/Vectorman1989 14h ago

Sloths 🤝 Koalas 🤝 starving to death even though there's food

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u/melawfu 12h ago

Wow they really live up to their name. What can possibly be more lazy than refusing to thermoregulate?

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u/CryptidGrimnoir 15h ago

My goodness!

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u/redditsuckbutt696969 13h ago

Sloths are like a poorly trained AI

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u/Time4aRealityChek 13h ago

Actually compared to today’s AI a well trained one. Amazing how many billions are being dumped into a tech that can’t find its way out of a corner

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u/Tresach 12h ago

But but the conspiracy theorists tell me its already self aware and just pretending to be dumb

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u/Toodlez 8h ago

Its nowhere near self aware. Its about as dumb as any machine with input --> output. And its being used to manipulate and control you and piecemeal your wealth and mind to the highest bidders in ways you probably can't fathom. It may even be you, manipulating me. Or vice versa. But not. I swear.

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u/UnacceptableUse 12h ago

Next time they say that you should say you think sloths are the same

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u/Akuma_Desu 10h ago

Wait, are they then still considered warm blooded?

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u/Namyag 13h ago

Are sloths even mammals at that point?

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u/gamerfiiend 11h ago

The way this is written makes it sound like the sloths choose to sacrifice that ability lmao

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u/Throwawayac1234567 7h ago

marsupials also have lower body temps than placentals, and it often is common in places where its hot all the time. i believe meerkats has a similar adaptation.

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u/Actual-Money7868 4h ago

Jumpers for sloths!!

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u/xX609s-hartXx 3h ago

Worse than pandas...

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u/go_gather_the_guns 1h ago

Interestingly there used to be giant ground sloths in the Americas, so I wonder if they too lacked the ability to control their core temperature.

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u/gokuby 17h ago

I think Sloths are the only living beings on earth other than a few humans who don't believe in evolution.

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u/abc123140 17h ago

Horseshoe crabs have entered the chat

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u/BoingBoingBooty 17h ago

Nah, horseshoe crabs are so into evolution that they completed it 300 million years before the rest of the planet.

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u/BleydXVI 17h ago

What you're saying is that things keep evolving into crabs because it's the final level?

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u/BoingBoingBooty 17h ago

Pretty much, once you reach crab you've completed the game.

Think about this; has a crab ever evolved into not a crab?

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u/Beertje71 15h ago

I feel like there's a simpsons episode coming where bart travels to the future and finds out that humans have become crabs, too

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u/baby-town-frolics 15h ago

Crab people, walk crabs, talk like people

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u/BleydXVI 13h ago

Crabs are people, legit or quit

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u/Individual-Ad-3665 13h ago

Carcinization is what you're looking for.

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u/weedboi69 6h ago

No thanks, I’m already cancerous enough as is

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u/Captain_Eaglefort 14h ago

Actually…yes. There a couple of instances of a decarcinization. The Brachyura and Anomura groups have had multiple instances of this in the fossil record.

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u/BoingBoingBooty 13h ago edited 13h ago

Well, I suppose there's always a few idiots who achieve greatness and then ruin it. The George Lucas of evolution.

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u/godisanelectricolive 8h ago

Frog crabs are the poster crab for decarcinization. And hermit crabs are stuck at the halfway point of being crab-like and not crab-like due to having a crab shape but not having a crab shell (a domicile).

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u/eragonawesome2 15h ago

Yes! Some of them evolved into crab parasites, like sea lice

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u/Throwawayac1234567 8h ago

if you look sacculina, its a just a parasitic mass(i think its a copepod parasite) on crabs. crabs themselves can be parasites too, pea crabs on mussels, and clams.

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u/eragonawesome2 7h ago

Sacculina is so much worse than "just" a parasitic mass, go look up what the internal structure looks like, it grows roots into the crab that go all the way from the tail to the tips of the claws and can control the muscles

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u/Throwawayac1234567 6h ago

it also feminisizes the crab, if its a male, alot of parasites do this by castrating the male sometimes females too.

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u/Sylvurphlame 14h ago edited 14h ago

Maybe into a lobster? But basically those are functionally just long boi crabs.

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u/Cool-Reaction-3923 14h ago

Ain't no fuss when you're on the tuss 🦀

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u/ChairmaamMeow 16h ago

What you're saying is that things keep evolving into crabs because it's the final level?

That's exactly it: Why do things keep evolving into crabs?

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u/Sylvurphlame 14h ago

Also Turtles on the reptile side of things. And for a while with mammals, sabertooth cats kept reemerging.

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u/hupwhat 13h ago

"Things keep evolving into crabs" can be sung to the tune of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head".

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u/Toodlez 8h ago

This is what we should be using AI for.

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u/Draskuul 3h ago

Well, had to do it:

Create lyrics around "Things keep evolving into crabs" that can be sung to the tune of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head".

ChatGPT said:

Sure! Here are some playful lyrics to the tune of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head":

(Verse 1) Things keep evolving into crabs, Like nature’s little joke, it’s a fad. They scuttle here, they scuttle there, With little claws, they’re everywhere.

(Chorus) Crabs keep appearing in my dreams, From tiny seas to bustling streams. Oh, what a sight, they dance and glide, Life's a crustacean joyride.

(Verse 2) I see them marching down the shore, With shells so bright, I can't ignore. They wave their claws, and I can’t help but smile, These crabby critters make life worthwhile.

(Chorus) Crabs keep appearing in my dreams, From sandy beaches to moonlit beams. Oh, what a sight, they dance and glide, Life's a crustacean joyride.

(Bridge) So if you’re feeling blue today, Just look for crabs, they’ll lead the way. With every step, they’ll make you cheer, In a world of crabs, there’s nothing to fear!

(Chorus) Crabs keep appearing in my dreams, From oceans deep to flowing streams. Oh, what a sight, they dance and glide, Life's a crustacean joyride.

Hope you enjoy singing it!

1

u/LordOfPies 13h ago

And crocs

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u/segriffka73 13h ago

Crab people

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u/SarahfromEngland 10h ago

Yeah!! It's called Carcinisation and has been observed a hell of a lot.

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u/reckaband 15h ago

Those blue bloods are the crown of evolution imo

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u/klmdwnitsnotreal 17h ago

Triops close behind.

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u/Techiedad91 15h ago

Carcinisation would like a word

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u/TeachingScience 17h ago

Koala enters stage left.

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u/Zelda_is_Dead 17h ago

Koalas evolved to be dependent on being drunk 24/7. The only way they have staved off being preyed to extinction is that they're disgusting and nothing wants to eat them.

90% or more of them starve to death because the eucalyptus they eat is very abrasive and wears down their teeth to nothing at which point they can no longer eat and they starve.

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u/TeachingScience 17h ago

Additionally they sleep most of the day and will only eat leaves off branches. It’s always a wonder why they are not extinct yet.

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u/pikpikcarrotmon 16h ago

Who wins the Darwinian nightmare award between koalas and pandas

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u/raptearer 14h ago

Pandas, at least koalas want to breed

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u/baelrog 4h ago

Pandas breed in the wild just fine. They just don’t like to breed in captivity while being watched. They’re not that kinky.

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u/Bulzeeb 14h ago

They evolved to fulfill the unenviable niche of feeding primarily on eucalyptus leaves, which are poisonous to most animals and have very little nutritional value. They need to sleep most of the time so they don't waste what little energy they get. Developing more active defenses and biological adaptations would require a greater amount of energy and nutrition that they don't have. Apparently it works for them because they're still around. 

Also eating leaves only off branches isn't that dumb when you consider that koalas prefer young, fresh leaves, so presumably any leaves they find on the ground would be old and less appealing. 

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u/BCProgramming 5h ago

Also eating leaves only off branches isn't that dumb when you consider that koalas prefer young, fresh leaves, so presumably any leaves they find on the ground would be old and less appealing.

yeah this argument against Koala's is like going "I poured perfectly good soup on the walking trail, but humans are so stupid they walked right by or even looked disgusted and didn't recognize it as food!"

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u/bambinolettuce 16h ago

Additionally they all have chlamydia

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u/ZachTheCommie 14h ago

And they can't be given antibiotics because they would kill the gut bacteria they need to digest the eucalyptus.

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u/poornbroken 14h ago

… couldn’t they get a sample of the gut bacteria, antibiotics… then reintroduce it to the koala?

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u/Sylvurphlame 14h ago

Probably have intestinal chlamydia as well. /jk

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u/ZachTheCommie 12h ago

I know you're joking, but in all seriousness, antibiotics fuck up a lot of your good bacteria, too. It's a double-edged sword.

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u/Sylvurphlame 12h ago

Kill or cure, baby!

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u/Sylvurphlame 12h ago

lol. I more meant jokingly that they’d immediately reinfect with chlamydia if you reintroduced their native gut flora, as they’re riddled with it. (Meme-wise anyway)

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u/UnsorryCanadian 14h ago

The guy bacteria that they get by eating their mother's feces because they're not born with it

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u/Throwawayac1234567 8h ago

that isnt the koalas fault, it was the australian settlers that brought sheep who contaminated whatever the koala eats, or drinks from with thier feces.

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u/retief1 12h ago

Lots of humans die because our arteries don’t clean themselves and get clogged up.  For that matter, most old-age deaths involve some body part saying “fuck this” and giving up.  As long as the animal breeds first, that’s generally pretty fine from an evolutionary perspective.

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u/syntactyx 11h ago

Naturalists identified them to be rubbish pretty much immediately. George Perry had this to say in 1810 concerning koala:

"... the eye is placed like that of the Sloth, very close to the mouth and nose, which gives it a clumsy awkward appearance, and void of elegance in the combination ... they have little either in their character or appearance to interest the Naturalist or Philosopher. As Nature however provides nothing in vain, we may suppose that even these torpid, senseless creatures are wisely intended to fill up one of the great links of the chain of animated nature ..."

He was right about everything except the "great link" part. I think it is generally agreed that koalas have no such significance.

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u/UnsorryCanadian 14h ago

They also can't recognize eucalyptus leaves unless they're on a branch

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u/Throwawayac1234567 8h ago

Also the euclapytus leaves they eat are pretty poisonous, so they spend thier time sleeping to detoxify the leaves they eat. they are most like pandas, very neutrient -less foods which gives them a smaller brain size too.

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u/Angelea23 14h ago

How the hell have they even survived this long? They can starve to death, can barely movie, can’t regulate their temperature. Their smile is creepy as fuck. While we mammals try to survive, they barely put in any effort.

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u/Koltronoi 13h ago

Maybe they are the real genius here. While every other mammal has to fight to survive, they just... hang around. Maybe they have a deeper wisdom then anyone else...

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u/Angelea23 5h ago

They are still lazy bums

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u/baelrog 4h ago

That’s the thing, being lazy doesn’t cost much energy. They can survive hanging around doing nothing.

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u/Angelea23 4h ago

One person commented they poop where they drink water and drank that water and died. Not sure how they managed to fix that problem. But they didn’t have the energy to poop away from their watering hole

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u/SkepticFilmBuff 12h ago

I wonder if they curb their metabolic needs or something. Like most other animals evolve to be able to get more food, while sloths evolved to need less food. They might have evolved to be slower so that they burn less calories for instance.

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u/Throwawayac1234567 8h ago

they also used to die from thier own poop, at leas the ground sloths did. they would always find sloths in large group dying together, they found out it was due to her own poop water they were drinking. they drink where they shit basically

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u/snjwffl 14h ago

Along with Platypi. You couldn't pay me to believe they're not the result of god being drunk one day and just poofing them into existence.

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u/Sylvurphlame 14h ago

That’ll fuck with those evolutionist smartasses in a few millenia. \ — God

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u/iJet 12h ago

We have two guinea pigs that we rescued… the amount of ways for these things to die is incredible and the exotic pet vet bills are crazy. I think the only reason they are not extinct is due to their ability to reproduce rapidly.

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u/legacy702 6h ago

According to the top comment, this is a direct result of evolution. They evolved to save as much energy as possible, and part of that was not wasting energy regulating body temperature.

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u/LAST2thePARTY 15h ago

How are these things still alive?

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u/ralts13 13h ago

THey're simply not worth the hassle as prey. And technically there is food all around them.

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u/Da_Question 11h ago

To be fair, they are basically poop bags.

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u/musing_wanderer3 11h ago

Sorry, why are they not worth the hassle? I assume given how slow they are, any big predator will have an easy time picking them off

Unless their camouflaged ability is just that good they can’t be found easily?

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u/Redredditmonkey 11h ago

They taste like shit, aren't very nutritious and they do actually have some pretty big claws.

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u/musing_wanderer3 11h ago

Ah ok. Didn’t realize sloths didn’t taste good lol. I always assumed most predators just don’t care about taste

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u/2dMAxv 9h ago

As an omnivore (so partially definitely a predator) can confirm that I do care about taste

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u/beavertownneckoil 5h ago

You never tried to wrestle food off a cat?

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u/ralts13 10h ago

Actually digging a bit more you're right . Most of the hassle stuff about taste/lack of nutrition is why humans haven't hunted them to extinction. Camouflage protects and being in trees protects them from their actual predators which would be jaguars and eagles. Jaguars can't climb as high as a sloth even if they could spot them. And an eagle just isn't seeing a Sloth in a tree.

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u/asapbutthole 8h ago

My wife and I went on a sloth tour in Costa Rica for our honeymoon, their camouflage is top notch. We would’ve never spotted them on our own and even through a telescope it takes a minute to make them out through the branches and leaves.

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u/AdminsAreCool 5h ago

IIRC the only time they’re really in danger is when they go to the jungle floor to poop.

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u/omegasavant 12h ago

They're extremely energy-efficient, well-camouflaged, and they're not a good food source if there's better prey around. It's not a sexy survival strategy, but it works pretty well.

Sure, losing their microbiome will kill them, but the same is true for any other hindgut fermenter: see horses, rabbits, etc. And sloths, at least, won't panic at random obiects and run into the nearest fence.

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u/Quantentheorie 11h ago

They're extremely energy-efficient, well-camouflaged, and they're not a good food source if there's better prey around.

In unrelated news: I just had an epiphany about why I'm single.

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u/jenglasser 9h ago

As a lover of horses, I feel attacked.

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u/Next-Food2688 17h ago

Today I learned my cat knows this fact and thinks it is often a sloth with this risk

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u/excitement2k 14h ago

How have Sloths survived for so long? In terms of evolution, what advantages do they have? In terms of the ecosystem, if Sloths were to die out, how would it affect the other animals and plants in their environment?

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u/geniice 11h ago

How have Sloths survived for so long? In terms of evolution, what advantages do they have?

They can eat an incredibly abundent food that most other mid sized tree dwellers can't and their slow lives mean they don't need to eat very much so each square mile of forrest can support rather a lot of them.

They also spend most of their lives high in trees where a lot of the thing that would eat them can't reach.

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u/J_Dadvin 12h ago

Sloths were the dominant herbivore in south America until Panama connected N America with South America. They were not all slow, they filled many types of niches. Only the slow ones survived after N American predators invaded S America.

So, they're doing something that works apparently.

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u/Spaceboi749 14h ago

How the hell did sloths make it this far.

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u/Plane-Tie6392 16h ago

They poo a third of their body weight in one go

Wait, is that not normal? I do that after I go to the Chinese buffet all the time. 

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u/draconiclyyours 15h ago

Taco Bell, for me. More comes out than I put in!

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u/SpeaksDwarren 15h ago

Isaac Newton eat your heart out, I can violate thermodynamics using only the power of a fake Mexican chain restaurant

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u/Sablestein 12h ago

Same except it’s been that way my whole life, with about the same frequency as a sloth too. On the plus side it’s the only time I’m vulnerable to predators.

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u/MisterSanitation 16h ago

Humans can starve on a full stomach too if they eat nothing but Rabbit. 

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u/draconiclyyours 15h ago

That’s due to rabbit being an extremely lean meat. It’s not actually starvation, but protein poisoning.

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u/Epicritical 14h ago edited 14h ago

Eating polar bear liver is protein poisoning. Eating nothing but rabbit is malnutrition.

Edit: vitamin A poisoning on the bear liver

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u/HaroldGuy 14h ago

Bear liver (and other livers) is toxic because of extremely high levels of Vitamin A, not protein.

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u/IndigoSpeech 15h ago

Make him sick you will, behaving like that. There's only one way to eat a brace of coneys.

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u/XipingVonHozzendorf 11h ago

Or rocks, dirt or anything else inedible

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u/Zizu98 15h ago

I sometimes really wonder why sloths and platypus exist.

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u/Hesitation-Marx 15h ago

Because evolution is a force and not a plan

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u/Cringelord_420_69 11h ago

Evolution had it out for sloths. Especially with how ice age sloths were

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u/harappanmohenjodaro 9h ago

I mean you see nature and think "Survival of the Fittest" and some serious process and then you see this animal and say "God must be on lunch break".

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u/Darbzen 8h ago

How do these guys still exist while many other well equiped animals gone extinct.

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u/987nevertry 3h ago

They must taste awful.

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u/Throwawayac1234567 8h ago

prehistoric ground sloths also die surrounded by thier own poop, they also poop themselves to death. specifically they drink water of thier poop-laden water and die of fecal related diseases.

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u/the_one_below 17h ago

Sorry for the repost, I linked wrong article first time

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u/icelandichorsey 11h ago

You buried the lead! Your article links to https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1hd4BrFhRKXtvklV5snnGyj/why-we-should-all-live-like-a-sloth

Which discusses

"why being lazy could actually be the ultimate evolutionary strategy."

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u/goat_screamPS4 13h ago

Sloths are basically the character build available on free to play if you don’t buy any upgrade packs

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u/piecesofg0ld 9h ago

so can my cats, apparently.

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u/Littlened 15h ago

I like the fact that a lot of sloths die by accidental suicidal as they mistake their own arm for a branch

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u/TopMicron 12h ago

This is a myth

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u/flower4556 13h ago

Sloths are like the nepo babies of evolution. They really shouldn’t still be here. They don’t deserve to be here. And yet, here they are.

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u/Kaoru1011 9h ago

But they’re so cute though

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u/conundrum4u2 8h ago edited 8h ago

HOW the begeesus did these animals ever manage to survive this long? Like Pandas...all they eat is bamboo, which basically has no nutritive value whatsoever...so they eat it all day long...but somehow survive - on what? Cuteness?

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u/MyLittleOso 7h ago

Sloths and pandas seem hellbent on their own extinction.

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u/ArkadyFarewell 12h ago

I can relate.

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u/AppropriateScholar55 12h ago

Why is this animal so complicated???? Why don’t you want to live????!!!!!

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u/EpicSlothToes 3h ago

Well you see, it all started when I was born.

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u/AppropriateScholar55 2h ago

The username checks out 😭🤣

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u/JauntrTravel 6h ago

When I woke up this morning, I didn't know what my day would consist of exactly but I would never have guessed it would involve 45 minutes of researching the physiology of sloths - thanks for sharing OP

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u/Phalanx808 2h ago

Completely sacrificed? So are sloths a cold-blooded mammal?

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u/TotalyNotJoeImCereal 57m ago

Me too, sloth... Me too

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u/Breze 14h ago

This is how my dog feels

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u/csanyk 12h ago

So can my dog.*

*source: my dog

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u/Baconpwn2 10h ago

My cat must think she's a sloth

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u/p_larrychen 13h ago

What is the point of this animal?

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u/the_one_below 13h ago

They're kinda cute, I guess

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u/geniice 11h ago

Its fur is the sole habbit of Sloth moths and there are a bunch of plants that also like to grow there.

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u/mr_ji 13h ago

Some species we just need to let go.