Riverview Park and Zoo’s – Festive Sloth

As the weather gets cold and the festive season draws near, we all can hopefully take a moment to slow down. One Riverview Park and Zoo resident that knows all too well how to take life slow is the two-toed sloth. We have 2 of these Central American tree-dwelling sloths, a male and female, called Lamborghini and Maserati at the zoo. These animals move at a blistering pace of 3 km per hour! Which is slower than the average walking speed for humans (4.8 km per hour). Along with being slow movers, they also have the slowest digestion of any mammal. Food can take from a week to a month to digest, this is due to their highly complex digestive system that relies heavily on bacteria to ferment and extract the nutrients from their foliage-dominant, vegetarian diet. So, when celebrating the holidays with a family dinner, consider that a sloth may still be digesting that meal well into the new year!

This species is totally adapted to life in the trees, their organs are even attached to their ribs in a specific way to save them deflating under the pressure of hanging from branches most of their lives. Sloths eat, sleep, and even give birth in the canopy. The only time they venture down to the forest floor, is when nature calls and they need to ‘use the washroom’. This slow-paced life is a brilliant survival strategy, that limits the amount of energy they spend. They often sleep 15-20 hours per day and stay fairly motionless while hanging in the branches.

So, let’s take a lesson from the sloth, take some time to hang out and rest this holiday season! Consider adopting a two-toed sloth at Riverview Park and Zoo as a perfect stocking stuffer!

Dawn Pond, Riverview Park and Zoo.
www.riverviewparkandzoo.ca