Are Sloths For Sale? How Fast Are Sloths?

Sloth Life

Sloths are one of those animals that are on 99% percent of travelers’ bucket lists. After all, who wouldn’t want to hold this ridiculously cute animal? The hair on a sloth is super soft and the fact they are super slow only adds to the cuteness factor. While I was interacting and feeding my new buddy I realized that I knew just about nothing about sloths. What do they eat, where do they live, where do they sleep, why are they so darn cute. These questions were all going through my mind so I decided to find the answers to some.

Are Sloths For Sale Really? 🙄 

This actually came to a huge surprise to me but the answer is yes. You can in fact by a sloth for around 6,000$ USD to start with. Sloths for sale are hard to find but you can find them with some research on the internet. I actually found some for sale in just a few minutes. Check out this site to see sloths for sale. I would encourage anyone to think twice before adopting or buying a sloth unless you have years of experience with exotic animals. 

Why is a Sloth so Slow?

That is a great question to ask and the answer is relatively straight forward. A sloth’s metabolic rate is very slow. This leads them to move at a very sluggish rate. According to WorldWildLife.org, a sloth moves at about 41 yards a day. 😆 That is less than half the length of an American football field.

How Long do Sloths Sleep?

Some of the people reading this are totally going to want to switch lives with a sloth. Sloths on average sleep 15 hours a day. The other 9 hours they move around 40 yards throughout treetops relaxing in the shade and eating fruit. What an intense life the sloth lives. 😀

What Kind of Snacks do Sloths Enjoy?

Due to Sloths not having incisors, the sharp pointed teeth next to our front teeth, they use their strong and firm lips to munch down on leaves, twigs, and some fruits. Their metabolic rate allows them to need little food to survive. Also, the metabolic rate slows down their food processing time. It may take them a day or two to process what most animals could in a few hours.

Where do Sloths Live?

South America is the primary habitat for the Sloth. Sloths can also be found in Central America as well. Historically speaking sloths ancestry points out that the Sloth use to live in North America. The sloth loves tall trees, rainy & cloudy weather for the shade.

Who Threatens the Sloth?

Like many animals in the wild these days the primary threat is deforestation. There are 6 species of sloths and not all are endangered but if deforestation continues they sure will be. Habitat loss has become a major problem in both Central America & South America. The WWF and Brazilian government have taken some amazing initiative in coming up with a $215 million fund to ensure that 150 million acres of the Brazilian Amazon are preserved and managed correctly to ensure the Sloth always has a home. 😀 Great job Brazil and WorldWideLife Foundation.

Do Sloths Ever Leave the Trees?

This question was hilarious to find the answer because it was not what I expected. Sloths spend the majority of their lives in trees. However, they do visit the ground approximately once a week to relieve themselves. These sloths are quite the class act. They could just release from up in the air but they are nice enough to come to the ground to do their business. Talk about the sweetest animals ever.

A Personal Favorite Question 😆 Can Sloths Swim? 😆

Why is this a question? I have no idea but I couldn’t stop wonders once I started thinking about it. The answer is…Yes, they are great swimmers actually. Their long arms allow them to move through the water very efficiently. However, they still need to be very careful. Just because they are good swimmers does not mean they are fast swimmers.

These were just some of the questions that floated through my mind as I hung out and fed Mr. Sloth. They are some amazing creatures and I hope some of the questions that were answered make sloth life a little more clear.

Check out the World Wildlife Fund for many more great animal news stories.

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