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sloths live eat and give birth in the
trees but once a week they climb down to
the ground for the most dangerous thing
their species could do
take a poop
more than half of all sloth deaths occur
on ground
so why do sloths risk their lives for
their bathroom habits
once there were dozens of sloth species
around some of them like the giant
ground sloth were as big as mammoths
with claws the size of a man's forearm
today there are six surviving species
which fall into two groups
there are three toad sloths the ones
with the beatles haircuts
and then there are the two-toed sloths
both live in the jungles of central and
south america
at first glance sloths might appear
boring but a closer look shows they're
actually quite special
sloths are energy-saving icons
performing about 10 of the physiological
work done by mammals of a similar size
and boasting a suit of ingenious
adaptations that allow them to exist on
as few as 160 calories per day
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they've certainly figured out that being
fast costs valuable energy
and their diet which consists of leaves
does have little nutritional value
as well as being hard to digest
to cope sloths have evolved a
four-chambered stomach much like a cows
where they employ a host of gut bacteria
to digest what they eat
it can take sloths up to a month to
break down one single leaf
so this sloth isn't really lazy he's
actually very busy digesting
sloths have about half the skeletal
muscle of terrestrial mammals
turning their lives upside down saves
energy and they can do almost anything
in this inverted position
their fur grows in the opposite
direction so they can drip dry after
tropical storms
in water sloths can swim three times
faster than they can walk on land
and because of their ability to slow
their heart to one third its normal rate
they can hold their breath for a
whopping 40 minutes under water
a good swim also moisturizes the sloth's
complex fur system
sloths are as much an ecosystem
as an animal and to provide this intact
world they're prepared to take great
risks
once a week the three-toed sloth climbs
down from the trees
digs a small hole in the ground with its
tail and defecates
then it covers up its latrine with
leaves before climbing back up
this behavior seems highly unnecessary
sloths don't just burn nearly one tenth
of their daily calories on these
laborious descents and climbs but they
are incredibly easy prey on the ground
while moving around on the jungle floor
they're likely to encounter predators
like the harpy eagle or
jaguar in fact more than half of all
sloth deaths occur when predators strike
as they are traveling to and from their
low-level latrines
so why do the sloths do it
for scientists this risky behavior has
long been a mystery and there are lots
of theories as to why sloths do it
for example they could be fertilizing a
favorite tree or communicating with
other sloths
but jonathan pauley from the university
of wisconsin-madison has a different
explanation he and his team believe the
answer could lie within the miniature
ecosystems flourishing in the sloth's
fur
hidden in their hair sloths host a
diverse community of fungi
algae
insects mites and ticks
many of these residents are found
nowhere else
the three-toed sloth even has
adaptations that help it cultivate these
partners for example its hair contains
cracks that collect rainwater and acts
as a miniature hydroponic garden for
algae to grow in
their fur also contains moths
kryptosis moths live exclusively on
sloths probably feeding on their skin
secretions or algae
there can be up to 120 of them on one
single individual these moths are
entirely dependent on the sloths and
specifically on their daring defecation
descents
when a three-toed sloth descends to the
forest floor to defecate
moths ride along with them
while the mammal is doing its thing the
female moths fly off and lay their eggs
in the fresh tongue the larvae eat
nothing else
adult moths leave the dung pile and fly
up to the canopy in search of sloths and
mates
the moths increase the amount of
nitrogen in the sloth's fur which
encourages algae to thrive
so the moths help to fertilize the
sloth's algal gardens which gives the
sloth a valuable energy boost it's a
perfect sloth moth circle
by analyzing the chemical compounds of
the algae the researchers around paulie
found that it does indeed contain the
same amount of carbohydrates and protein
as the leaves that sloths normally eat
in addition it contains three to five
times more fat providing a much needed
supplement to the sloth's otherwise
nutrient poor diet
the green algal growth is also thought
to help sloths blend in with their leafy
habitat giving them additional
camouflage protection from predators
for the three-toed sloth a trip to the
restroom is no rest at all but it looks
as though it's totally worth it
and using its own poop to cultivate a
decent snack is also pretty clever right
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more clever species around the world and
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