The Slowest of the Slow

Five feet is not far for humans to travel. In fact, that would be about 2 big steps. How long does it take to go two steps—2 seconds, or 5 at the most? What if I told you about an animal whose top speed is 5 feet per minute. That's right, when moving its fastest on the ground, it takes a sloth an entire 60 seconds to travel 5 feet. But that is at top speed; its normal speed is about 13 feet an hour (about 5 steps for you). The sloth is very slow. Yet, the sloth's slowness is just one of its interesting qualities.

The sloth lives most of its life in the tops of trees. It sleeps about 18 hours every day (that is where we get the term slothful—meaning lazy). Could you imagine being awake for only 6 hours a day? Much of the sloth's sleepy time is spent upside-down. It eats, sleeps, and does many other things upside-down for about 15 hours everyday. Because of this upside-down lifestyle, God gave the sloth internal organs (such as the stomach, liver, and spleen) that are located in different places from those of many other mammals.

How do these amazingly slow creatures keep from being eaten by predators? Sloths have long gray or brown hair that blends in with tree leaves. Also, since the sloth moves so slowly, blue-green algae grows in its hair, which helps it blend in even better. Their slow movements and algae camouflage keep them well protected from predators such as jaguars and anacondas.

But even though predators don't find sloths often, other little creatures do. Moths, beetles, and ticks love to make their home in its shaggy hair. It has been reported that a single sloth can carry 100 moths, 1000 beetles, and thousands of ticks—probably not a pet you would want to sleep at the foot of your bed!

The sloth could not have evolved special organs and its slow metabolism. God's beautiful design is clearly seen in the upside-down, super-sleepy sloth.

---

Copyright © 2014 Apologetics Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

*Please keep in mind that Discovery articles are written for 3rd-6th graders.

This document may be copied, on the condition that it will not be republished in print unless otherwise stated below, and will not be used for any commercial purpose, as long as the following stipulations are observed: (1) Apologetics Press must be designated as the original publisher; (2) the specific Apologetics Press Web site URL must be noted; (3) any references, footnotes, or endnotes that accompany the article must be included with any written reproduction of the article; (4) textual alterations of any kind are strictly forbidden; (5) Some illustrations (e.g., photographs, charts, graphics, etc.) are not the intellectual property of Apologetics Press and as such cannot be reproduced from our site without consent from the person or organization that maintains those intellectual rights; (6) serialization of written material (e.g., running an article in several parts) is permitted, as long as the whole of the material is made available, without editing, in a reasonable length of time; (7) articles, in whole or in part, may not be offered for sale or included in items offered for sale; and (8) articles may be reproduced in electronic form for posting on Web sites pending they are not edited or altered from their original written content and that credit is given to Apologetics Press, including the web location from which the articles were taken. Further, documents may not be copied without source statements (title, author, journal title), and the address of the publisher and owner of rights, as listed below.

For catalog, samples, or further information, contact:

Apologetics Press
230 Landmark Drive
Montgomery, Alabama 36117
U.S.A.
Phone (334) 272-8558

http://www.apologeticspress.org