My Friend the Sloth

By Ryan O’Rourke

What do they look like?• Short, flat heads

• Big eyes• Long legs

• Short snout• Tiny ears

• Stubby tails

Baby Sloths

• Sloths only give birth to one baby a year!

Where do they live?

• Central and South America, although they used to live in

North America, but human hunting has

contributed to their extinction as well as the last Ice Age!

The Ice Age• It was so cold during the Ice

Age that sloths slowly died away.

Hi! I’m Sloth from the

movie Ice Age!

Slowwwwww...&Sleepy!

What’s an Omnivore?

• Sloths are omnivores, which means they eat everything from lizards to leaves!

• Their slow metabolism helps them live off of little amounts of food

What’s With Those Big Claws?

• Claws are the sloth’s only natural defense

• They use them to swipe at their attackers to scare them away or injure them

• They also use their claws to hang from trees!

Yuck…. Algae and Moss?• The word “sloth”

comes from the word meaning

“slow.” In fact, some sloths move so

slow that moss and algae grow in their

hair! • During the rainy season, algae also

grows on the sloth, which helps to

camouflage them

Upside Down

• Sloths spend most of their lives hanging upside down!

• In fact, they eat, sleep, mate, and give birth upside down! Because of this, their internal organs are in different positions from other mammals.

Predators• Jaguars

• Harpy Eagles

• Humans

Lifespan

• A sloth’s lifespan is between 30 to 40 years, with the older ones living in zoos

The End!