This Slowpoke Sloth Had a Close Call. See the Heartwarming Rescue!

This uplifting post from discover.animal shows some good Samaritans helping a lucky sloth make its way across traffic and into the forest. Sloths are typically docile and are rarely a danger to people, but no one wants a piece of those claws. They may be slow, but sloths know how to defend themselves if they feel threatened. Fortunately, no animals or humans were harmed in the making of this video, but how did a reclusive, tree-dwelling sloth get into the middle of a busy road anyway?

Three-Toed Sloths with Three-Inch Claws

The sloth in the video above appears to be an adult pale-throated three-toed sloth, or Bradypus tridactylus. Their native habitat is the canopies of tropical rainforests in Central and South America. They grow to around 2-2.5 feet tall and weigh 7-14 pounds, with the females being slightly larger than the males. They have stubby little tails and three sharp, curved claws that reach 3-4 inches long.

Pale-throated three-toed sloths have long, coarse grey hair with darker spots on their backs, shoulders, and haunches. The animal above is likely a female, as males have a distinctive orange-yellow back patch with a black line down the center. As we can see in the video, their hair can also sometimes look green due to the algae that grows in it.

The Slowest Mammal in the World

Sloths are known for being incredibly slow. In fact, they are the slowest mammals in the world. Although they can stand, they cannot walk. So, on the ground, they move by digging in with their claws and dragging themselves with their muscular arms. Some researchers estimate a sloth can only travel 1-5 feet per minute.

The reason sloths are so slow is because of their slow metabolisms. Their diet consists exclusively of leaves, buds, twigs, and fruit from Cecropia trees. Some of the food they eat can take up to a month to digest. The limitations of their metabolism require sloths to be careful about their energy use. So, they sleep 15-20 hours per day and move very slowly to conserve energy.

So, Why Did the Sloth Cross the Road?

For sloths, the old joke really is true — they cross the road to get to the other side. Sloths are arboreal, which means they live most of their lives in trees. They typically only leave the canopy to relieve themselves, which happens about once a week. Unfortunately, new roads being built through rainforests are causing habitat fragmentation. When the canopy is broken up, sloths are forced to drop to the ground and cross hazardous roads to reach another part of the forest.

A fragmented habitat also causes issues when sloths are searching for mates. They need to be able to travel far enough away to avoid inbreeding, but any gaps in the canopy hinder their movement. As their habitats become smaller, there is a significant risk of losing genetic diversity. This results in physical deformities in offspring and makes it difficult for sloths to adapt in response to environmental challenges.

Bridging the Gaps

On the ground, sloths are in danger of traffic, as well as predation from domestic animals. They are even slower on pavement because there is nothing they can dig their claws into to pull themselves forward. In the video above, we can see the sloth’s claws drag across the road as she tries to get a foothold.

Fortunately, several conservationist organizations have been building bridges to re-connect parts of the canopy that have been broken up due to human activities. They are bridging the gaps that will not only keep sloths from being isolated, but will also keep them, and hundreds of other vulnerable species, from being killed by traffic.