The non-experts may perhaps miss the physical appearance of the sloth but certainly not its peculiar characteristic, because this mammal represents the slowness par excellence .

Its common name is Bradipo Dattilo  while the scientific name is Choloepus Didactylus , it belongs to the order Pilosa and to the Megalonychidae family . Its spread originated millions of years ago and today only six species survive . 

• Sloth Zoology
• Habits of the sloth
• The slowness of the sloth

Sloth Zoology

Like the anteater and the armadillo, the sloth is also a mammal belonging to the order of the toothless. Let’s retrace its main physical characteristics: 

> it can weigh around 8 kilos , for a height of up to 65 cm;

> its long neck is supported by 6 cervical vertebrae which allow a very wide rotation , up to 270 degrees;

> its  physical form is rather clumsy and not very harmonious : the upper limbs are longer and characterized by 2 curved claws, while the lower ones (shorter) have three; 

> the dark gray-green color of the coat allows it to blend in with the plants of the forest;

> since the animal spends a lot of time upside down, its hair grows in the opposite direction to that of other mammals. It is bristly and holds algae and microorganisms that proliferate easily and which the sloth itself feeds on, licking itself. 

Habits of the sloth

The sloth is native to the tropical forests of South America, especially Brazil and Peru. He spends most of his life hanging from tree branches, where he sleeps, eats and socializes. It rarely goes ashore; generally only once a week to discharge.

The  male  spends their entire life in the same tree, while the female moves in to make way for her cub as soon as he has grown enough. The animal moves slowly on the ground, while it swims with great agility on the back. 

The  body temperature of the sloth varies from 24 ° C at night to 33 ° C during the day. These thermoregulation problems lead him to prefer the warm-humid climate , spending a lot of time in the sun to warm up and sleeping in a curled up position  to conserve the accumulated heat. 

Its diet consists of buds , fruit and leaves; it does not need water because it needs sap and dew to maintain adequate levels of liquids. Its metabolism is very slow in order not to burn calories, which lengthens digestion times: it can even take almost a month before food reaches the intestine from the stomach. 

The slowness of the sloth

The term sloth derives from the Latin and means “slow footed”, a clear reference to its average speed of 4 meters per hour . 

The slowness of this mammal is due on the one hand to its vegetarian diet low in calories, and on the other hand to the lack of endothermy . Being a cold-blooded animal, it must try to conserve the scarce heat that the body is able to absorb from the outside.

The slowness of movements and metabolism is therefore a matter of survival, because it minimizes the loss of heat and energy. By doing so, the sloth optimizes its resources and hides from predators, camouflaging itself and remaining motionless. This feature, which to us may seem curious and amusing, is a very powerful form of defense that has saved the species from extinction .

This praise of slowness apparently contrasts with such tight human times, but in reality it comes very close to the nature of our neuronal networks. In fact, in our brain there is no receptor that signals time : we can intuit it, but we cannot perceive it with the five senses. 

Time is made up of sequences of events and chains of linguistic communication that in any case require processes of elaboration and awareness . Only intuition is an exception because it is a rapid brain response, but it still needs a logical and rational verification by slow thinking . It is precisely the latter that consolidates and constitutes culture and human knowledge, unlike the “hit and run” intuitions which are lost if they are not adequately reworked.