Classroom lesson 路 Wildlife馃嚨馃嚘 Panama

Three-toed sloth - the slowest mammal on Earth

Sleeps 15 hours a day and grows tiny plants in its fur

A three-toed sloth hanging upside down from a branch, looking peacefully at the camera

Photo 路 Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

The three-toed sloth is a fluffy, slow-moving mammal that hangs upside down in the trees of Panama's rainforests. It moves so slowly that tiny green plants called 'algae' actually grow in its fur. That helps it blend into the trees - so it is also brilliant camouflage.

Tell me more

A sloth's whole world is upside down. It hangs from branches by long curved claws, sleeps upside down (about 15 hours a day!), eats upside down, even has its babies upside down. The body of a sloth is built for it - their fur grows the opposite way from most mammals so that rain runs off them properly.

They are so slow that some of the algae growing in their fur turns into tiny ecosystems of its own. Little moths even live in the fur, eating the algae. A sloth is basically a small forest carrying itself around.

Sloths only come down from the trees about once a week, and only for one strange reason - to go to the toilet. Then they head back up, slowly, slowly, and don't come down again for days.

Despite being slow on land, sloths are surprisingly good swimmers. They can hold their breath for over half an hour underwater - longer than most dogs. In the Panamanian rainforest, where rivers and floods are common, this is a very useful skill.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01Why might being very slow actually keep a sloth safe in the rainforest?
  2. 02If you slept 15 hours a day, what would the rest of your day look like?
  3. 03Tiny moths and algae live in a sloth's fur. What other living things share homes with bigger animals?
Try this

Classroom activity

Move at 'sloth speed' across the classroom - one step every 10 seconds. Time how long it takes to walk five metres. Then walk normally. Discuss: how much energy does a sloth save by being slow? Try drawing a sloth from a hanging-down angle for a different challenge.