Sloths In The Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest in the world. It covers 1.4 billion acres. Majority of the Amazon rainforest is located in Brazil, but it is also in the surrounding countries. Within the Amazon rainforest, 10% of the world’s known species live and 20% of the world’s bird species. There are around 2.5 million different insects and over 40,000 different species. Being part of the tropical rainforest biome, the Amazon rainforest has temperature generally around 80 degrees and had humidity between 77% and 88% and has rain almost every single day all year long. The Amazon also produces around 20% of the earth’s oxygen. Within the tropical forest biome there are four zones. The bottom zone has insects and large animals.

Moths, cockroaches, fungi, algae, and beetles can all live on a single sloth. Sloths are folivores and have had their digestive system adapt to their eating habits. Leaves are their main food sources and aren’t rich in nutrients; therefore, sloths have large and specialized slow stomachs that have multiple compartments. These compartments contain symbiotic acid which can break down the tough leaves. Sloths have some pretty impressively long tongues. They can protrude from their mouths ranging from 10 to 12 inches; this is awesome for them because it makes it easier to grab leaves that are out of reach. Two thirds of a sloths weight is the contents of a stomach. It takes a month to complete the digestive process for sloths. Due the lack of energy in leaves, sloths have low metabolic rates and keep their bodies at low the temperature range of 86-93 degrees Fahrenheit while they are awake. Sloths are unable to survive outside of tropical rainforests. Sloths have really cool fur. Their fur grows in the opposite direction of most mammals. Their hair grows away from their extremities because they spend so much time hanging upside down. Their fur is home to two

This provides camouflage for the sloth. Sloths have short and flat heads, big eyes, short snouts, long arms and legs, and small ears. Some species of sloth have short tail which range from 6-7 cm long; their body is normally between 50 and 60 cm long. They only natural defense mechanism that they have are their claws. Except for swiping at other animals, sloths are pretty defenseless. They blend with trees and slow moving so they don’t attract attention from predators. If the sloths leave their trees they become very vulnerable. Their main predators are jaguars, eagles, and humans. If a human shoots a sloth, they tend to stay in place because their claws hold them in place so well. Sloths can swim well. Like the average teenager during exam week, sloths only move when it is necessary and when they move it is slowly. They basically spend their whole lives hanging in trees. They eat sleep, give birth, and die hanging. Sloths sleep from 15 to 18 hours a day. The original sloths appeared in South America 60 million years ago and are related to anteaters and armadillos. There are two