![]() ![]() Sloths, however, are definitely not crop raiders. This is a common complaint about many different species, and a lot of wild animals do raid crops – but we shouldn’t expect anything else when we are using the habitats of these animals for agriculture! Sloth myth 4 – Sloths will raid your crops. Sloths are actually great moms: they have a lot of patience. She will even use her own body as a shield if they are being attacked to prevent any harm from coming to her baby. If she feels threatened, she will do everything in her power to protect her baby. With all of the best intentions, people bring hundreds of baby sloths into rescue centers every year – and in a lot of cases, they have been unnecessarily rescued by accident! Sloth moms are actually fantastic moms. This gives sloth moms a bad reputation – they don’t realize that mom is hiding up in the canopy, waiting for everyone to go away so that she can climb down safely. This loud cry also attracts the attention of nearby humans, and they often assume that the baby has been abandoned. While the baby is on the ground, it will cry out to attract the mom’s attention. When this happens, mom will slowly climb all of the way down to the forest floor to retrieve her baby. A baby sloth is strong enough to cling onto mom’s fur from the moment they are born, but sometimes they fall from the canopy (all baby animals are a bit clumsy and sloths are no exception). Sloth myth 3 – Sloths are bad mothers.Ī sloth mom will carry her baby around on her chest for an entire year. Time and additional specimens eventually revealed their true taxonomic relationships, but the confusing common name remains. When these bears were first described in the scientific literature by George Shaw in 1971, they were mistakenly believed to be related to the tree sloths of South and Central America – and consequently, they were given the name ‘sloth bear’. Sloths are also known as “Oso perezoso” in Spanish: which translates as “sloth bear”! /Smithsonian zoo Sloth bears are true bears that live in India, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Common names can be confusing, which is why scientific names are so helpful! As it turns out, there is actually something called a “sloth bear” ( Melursus ursinus) and it has absolutely nothing to do with sloths. In Spanish, the name for sloth is “oso perezoso”, which can be translated as “sloth bear” or “lazy bear”. Or perhaps that they are marsupials because they are similar in nature to koalas. Maybe some people think that sloths are primates because, like monkeys, they live in the trees. Our beloved sloths are actually something called Xenarthrans – a very ancient super-order of mammals that includes all of the modern sloths, as well as anteaters and armadillos. Sloth myth 2- Sloths are bears, primates, or marsupials. Also, their grip is incredibly strong (stronger than any human), and so they would probably notice if they grabbed onto their own arm! Sloths may not have big brains, but they are certainly not that slow-witted! Before they move, they need to be sure that the branch they are holding onto is strong enough to carry their weight. Sloths are actually very careful when they move about in the trees. We don’t know exactly where Douglas Adams got this information from when writing “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” but it is unfortunate and completely wrong. Challenge yourself to find the sloth in the picture in less than 30 seconds (…and this is not even a really dense rainforest)! Sloth myth 1- Sloths are so dumb they mistake their own arms for tree branches. Their enigmatic nature may be the reason why people have come up with some bizarre myths about them! Here are some of the most common myths about sloths (including some of our favorites). It´s very hard to study sloths in their natural habitat (the dense primary rainforest) because they live high up in the trees and they are so well camouflaged. Although there are tons of sloth myths on the internet coming from self-appointed sloth experts, there are actually very few scientific studies that have been done on sloths. ![]()
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