Information
The
Sloth has long gray or brown hair that blends in well
with the surrounding environment, making it difficult
for predators, such as the jaguar, to see them. This
hair curves in the opposite direction of most other
mammals: from the stomach to the back. Their hair is
often covered with a coat of blue-green algae during
the rainy season. This algae provides camouflage. They
grow to a length of between one and a half and two and
a half feet (in about 2 1/2 years). Their ancestor,
the Giant Ground Sloth, which lived before the last
ice age, reached the size of the modern elephant. The
Sloth eats leaves and buds. The two-toed species also
eat twigs, fruits, and small prey. Their low rate of
metabolism enables them to live on relatively little
food. They do not have incisors and crop leaves with
their hard lips. Their teeth grow continuously, as they
are worn down by the grinding of their food. They don't
drink but get their water from eating juicy leaves &
licking dewdrops.
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