Sloth Bear

Just saying the name “oso perezoso” or “sloth bear” out loud makes me feel silly and want to cuddle something cute.

Lucia mentioned that she heard a rumor once that the leaves the sloths eat have some sort of chemical in them that makes them high.

I looked it up, and couldn’t find anything on chemical compounds in the leaves they eat having any sort of effect on sloth bears (how satisfying an explanation for their goofy slothfulness would that have been?). But I did find that their digestion is SOO slow it can take 6-21 days to digest a meal and that its nutritional value is usually pretty low.

The San Diego Zoo factsheet even states that their food “may contain poisonous compounds that require low rate of absorption for detoxification” and that their “four-chambered stomach is filled with bacteria, which helps ferment the plant matter consumed.” Hmm…fermented plant matter. Maybe these guys are perpetually drunk! That would explain their sleeping positions.

But probably not. They’ve just got a the metabolism of a…well, sloth. Despite their lackadaisical speed on land/in trees, they’re quite good at swimming (and can hold their breath underwater for 40 minutes). Wow!

Everything about them has evolved for a life upside down. Their fur grows from their stomach down, letting water run off during rainstorms. Their organs have evolved to be attached to their ribs so they can function with an upside-down life. Their claws/wrists in a relaxed grip are hooks; meaning rather than using energy/effort to hang on to trees, it takes effort to straighten out their wrists. Their grip is so strong, that if one were to die in the trees, it would likely stay exactly where it was (morbid, I know).

They’re a pretty amazing animal. How could you not love these funny animals and their perpetually smiling faces?