17 Surprising Facts About Sloths - Idle and Gorgeous

Did you know that sloths only sleep about ten hours a day? What can they swim? There's still a lot you don't know about these cutest animals!

Although sloths have a reputation for being lazy and slow animals, they only sleep about ten hours a day.

The predators that threaten them are eagles, snakes and jaguars, but sloths are well protected because they spend most of their time in trees.

Sloths are two-toed or three-toed - two-toed is slightly larger.

Their diet consists mainly of leaves and is not very nutritious. That is why sloths move so slowly - in order to conserve energy.

When the female is ready to breed, she emits a cry. Males available nearby follow this call.

Sloth cubs hang on their mother's stomach for the first couple of weeks after birth, and then stay with their mother until they are four years old.

Algae grows in their fur, which helps them camouflage themselves from predators.

Sloths descend from trees solely for the purpose of going to the toilet - and they always go to the same place. This happens once a week.

Sloths are arboreal animals, that is, they spend almost their entire lives in trees.

Sloths live in the rainforests of Central and South America.

Three-toed sloths can turn their heads almost 360 degrees!

Despite their similarity to monkeys, sloths are relatives of anteaters and armadillos.

The pygmy three-toed sloth is an endangered species found only on the small island of Escudo de Veraguas off the coast of Panama.

Two-toed sloths are nocturnal while three-toed sloths are diurnal.

The extinct species of sloth was the size of an elephant!

Sloths have a very slow digestive system, sometimes the process of digestion takes up to a month.

Sloths are surprisingly good swimmers. Just look at this baby!