the.com/sloth
the mammal so slow that algae grows on it, turning fur into a portable ecosystem
means Either the famously slow-moving tree-dwelling mammal of Central and South America, or the human vice of laziness and reluctance to exert effort.
from From Middle English 'slowthe,' built straightforwardly from 'slow' plus the noun-forming suffix '-th' (the same '-th' that turns 'wide' into 'width' and 'strong' into 'strength') — so it literally means 'slowness.' It began purely as the quality of being slow or sluggish, and by the medieval period had been drafted into Christian moral vocabulary as one of the Seven Deadly Sins, the spiritual laziness once called by the Latin name 'acedia.' The animal got its name centuries later: European naturalists encountering the unhurried creature simply borrowed the existing word for sluggishness.
- poop schedule
- descends to defecate just once a week
- strong grip
- can stay clinging to branches after death
- slow digestion
- a single meal takes up to a month
- surprise swimmer
- swims three times faster than it walks
- neck trick
- extra vertebrae let it turn nearly 270 degrees
choloepus didactylus — two-toed sloth species found in south america, moves at 0.24 km/h
bradypus variegatus — three-toed sloth species in central and south america, sleeps 15-20 hours daily