Life is Weird: Champions of Encumbering Intoxication | Pt.3

It never seizes to amaze me what interesting and unlikely creatures inhabit the Earth with us. Back in the day I used to think that these MUST be aliens in some way or another, they just don't seem to fit here really well. But they are here with us, and boy oh boy, what a life some of these species lead.

Today we will take a closer look at Sloths and their curious everyday mission. From an evolutionary biologist's perspective Sloths are surely one of the unlikelier candidates to have survived this long. But even if we leave that out for the moment, just learning about sloths' habits is way more interesting than any of us would have expected.

Lazy-ass

"What is so special about sloths? Don't they just lay around all day long?"

Great question and yes, pretty much ;) But the thing that amazed me is the alleged reason as to why they are "lazy". Sloths are literally called "lazy animals" in German ("Faultier") and once we dig a bit deeper we find out they have good reason to be slow and boring.

If I may put it bluntly: they are hardcore addicts, and their system has a lot to do coping with that situation.

Say what?

You see, sloths have this peculiar pickiness when it comes to the food they eat. Generally most sloths will primarily feast off the leafs from a Cecropia tree, a diet that carries very little nutrients and takes an eternity to digest inside the stomach. It is estimated that this can take up to four weeks wherein the sloth's organism directs most of the energy to the digestive apparatus, leaving little for other tasks like moving around. As a result, many other species have entered parasitic or symbiotic relationships with the sloths that are defenseless against fast and crawly invaders and algae forming on their bristled fur.

They are brilliant climbers - built the way they are - but other than that a sloth is pretty much helpless on the ground, due to its body build and its immense slowness.

But back to diet: Not only do the leafs carry little sustenance, they also carry an enormous amount of toxins that the sloth's body needs to "defend" against and process.

Effectively, the majority of their lives they are laying around trying to digest a meal they simply can't get away from. If you think you are a picky eater, always remember: There are freaks of nature out there who have given up to fight their urges and simply arranged to live with their "bad choices".

Of course, this is all seen from the evolutionary perspective which certainly is not the only one worth considering. But the point of this series is to simply introduce you to some of the oddities in and of nature, and in this spirit I leave you with another clip by the BBC where you can see the sloths doing their thing.

Enjoy <3