Sloths have a short end in many ways. Who wants to be named after a deadly crime? Nor is it merely an English quirk to call them “sloths”; Other languages have names around terms like “lazy”, “slow” and “sleep”. The three-toed sloth’s scientific name, Bradypus, means “slow feet” in Greek. Only their cute, slightly confused looks worthy of an Internet meme can save them from being written off as completely useless.
But sloths are much more than just small bags of laziness. Here’s a fact about sloths to change their bizarre lethargy in the animal kingdom.
Sloths are sometimes hunted by humans, but given their low muscle mass, they do not form a large part of anyone’s diet. Also, unless you catch a sloth on the ground, you may have a hard time getting your dinner.
Sloths get very little energy from their diet of leaves. They take a long time to digest their food and waste as little energy as possible. Staying in trees is pretty much a sloth’s whole deal, so it makes sense that they would be efficient at it. Their claws essentially form a hook on the branch, so holding on requires no expenditure of effort.
Why is this bad news for human hunters? Say you take your gun, you spot your sloth, you take aim, and fire (you monster). You move in to grab your dinner, but it’s not waiting for you on the ground. It remains suspended above you thanks to your target’s efficient little fingers.