Have you met Sid the Sloth? He is just the cutest, especially if you can catch him when he’s not taking a nap. He’s very laid-back. There’s a lot we could learn from sloths.
5 Lessons from Sloths
- Sleep is so important. Sloths have super low metabolisms. Most of them sleep 15-20 hours a day. We could learn a thing or two about slowing down from these furry friends. We need our sleep, too. Adult humans should get between 7-8 hours each night. We don’t need as much as Sid and other sloths because our bodies need more fuel and have a higher metabolism..
- Eat your greens. Sloths eat leaves, shoots, and fruit, and because of this, spend most of their lives in trees. We too need greens. You should be eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
- There’s nothing wrong with hanging around. Sloths hang from trees in near motionless positions. One of the reasons they do this is to avoid detection by predators like hawks and large jungle cats. Since they are one of the slowest animals on earth, outrunning predators isn’t an option. While we may not be as skilled at hanging around as Sid, exercise is always a good choice. But we need a lot more than Sid. The American Heart Association suggests 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week.
- Use your assets. Sloths’ muscle mass comprises a small portion of its body weight. About 40-45% of most animals’ weight is their muscle mass. For sloths, it’s closer to 25-30%. That means that while they can spend all day hanging from a tree, they don’t have the muscle strength to perform a lot of acrobatics. They have long, lean arms and curved nails that make hanging easy. While they may occasionally be seen sitting on a tree limb, most of the time you’ll see them hanging. Their bodies were designed for it. What are you best at?
- Don’t let physical limitations stop you. Sloths can’t really walk. If they’re ever on the jungle floor, they pull themselves along at about 9 feet per minute. That means it would take them over nine and a half hours to crawl a mile, which they’d never do. But as slow as they are on land, they are really pretty quick in the water. They can swim about 44 feet per minute and hold their breath for up to 40 minutes under water! So take a lesson from the sloths, don’t ever let a physical limitation limit you. You can still accomplish a lot.
Would you like to see Sid in person? Stop by Alligator Attraction and say “hello.”
Test Your Sloth Knowledge:
How much do you know about sloths? The true/false answers might surprise you (and they’re not in the blog post so put on your thinking cap).
If you want to check your responses, look below our sloth visit information section.
True or False?
- Sloths have babies while hanging from trees.
- Sloths are really noisy animals.
- In captivity, sloths enjoy playing jump rope.
- Sloths have ten babies at a time.
- Two-toed sloths like pizza.
Sloth Visits
If you want a really amazing experience, we offer a limited number of special ticketed “slothies” or selfies with Sid.
We limit the number because sloths can be shy and we don’t want Sid overwhelmed by meeting too many new friends at once. The health/well-being of our animal friends is very important to us.
Coming soon: Keep an eye out for our Sloth Experience, a personal meet and greet with Sid.
Call 727.329.8751 for more information and answers to your in-depth questions.
Speaking of answers…
Answers to the Sloth Knowledge Quiz
Sloths have babies while hanging from trees. True. They do almost everything hanging from trees.
Sloths are really noisy animals. False. Two-toed sloths like Sid are nearly silent.
In captivity, sloths enjoy playing jump rope. False. Sloths arms are much longer than their bodies. They prefer to hang.
Sloths have ten babies at a time. False. They have one about every year but sometimes the female sloths are so good at hiding that they don’t find a mate for that year.
Two-toed sloths like pizza. False, or at least it’s best that they don’t. Sloths like leaves, shoots, and fruit best. They don’t need (or like) cheese or bread.
