Their “Laziness” Is a Survival Tactic

It’s no secret that sloths are slow. Their reaction time is about a quarter as fast as a human’s, and they move at a pace of 6 to 8 feet per minute. Indeed, three-toed sloths are the slowest animals on Earth, beating out other famously slow animals like giant tortoises and snails. When the animals were first documented in 18th-century scientific texts, they were harshly described as “the lowest form of existence.”

But their slowness is why they haven’t died out. Sloths largely subsist on leaves, and it can take up to a month for their four-part stomachs to digest a single meal. The leafy greens aren’t very nutritious, so they have to conserve as much energy as possible to survive—and that means moving less. As a bonus, their slow movements help them go unnoticed by predators that rely on sight to hunt down prey, like jaguars, ocelots, and harpy eagles.