If you or your children get excited when you spot a sloth on TV, then it’s high time for you to book your next trip to Costa Rica. But, if you don’t have the funds right away, you should consider learning more fun things about sloths from these unique sloth coloring pages. Keep reading to find out more about what makes sloths animals that you should get to know.
Welcome to our collection of free SLOTH coloring pages. Click the Sloth pictures or illustrations you like and you’ll be taken to the PDF download and/or print page. Every Sloth coloring page is a printable PDF and/or can be downloaded.
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Interesting Facts About Sloths
1. They Love to Hang Around
Did you know that sloths are distinguished by their sharp, two or three, claws that curve at the end of their limbs? As a result, they spend a lot of their time hanging upside down from trees. In fact, a sloth can even fall asleep in this upside down position. If a sloth were to die in this position, he would remain in it until you get him down from the tree.
But these claws aren’t just useful to hang on trees. They actually serve a purpose that protects sloths. The thing is, they make it difficult for them to walk on the ground. Hence, they prefer to hang on trees. But, this is also beneficial for avoiding any predators. They rarely catch them when they’re up hanging on trees.
2. They are Lazy
A sloth lives up to its name. This animal is very slow and lazy. Even a sloth’s muscle mass is low. Plus, they have a slow metabolism rate. Research suggests that their diet is mainly to blame for how they are. The fact is that sloths are folivores. This is a fancy way to say that they eat leaves all the time. While eating your greens is highly recommended, you should still eat them with other foods. With sloths, when they only rely on leaves, they don’t get enough calories to give them more energy. Moreover, the leaves are very slow to digest due to their metabolism issues. You’d be shocked to find that it can take a sloth an entire month just to digest one meal.
3. They’re Good Swimmers
It’s surprising that even though they spend most of their time hanging upside down on trees, they’re pretty amazing in the water. Their ability to swim dates back to their extinct ancestors. These were known as aquatic animals. Generally, a sloth can hold its breath for up to 40 minutes without having issues. In addition to this, they can reach 45 feet per minute speeds in water. However, it’s rare for you to get a good picture of a sloth underwater.
4. Their Size has Shrunk
Only 6 species of sloth have managed to survive until now. These are the size of your regular medium-sized house dog. Yet, when you flip through the history books, you’ll find that sloths could be as big as elephants at times. These huge ground sloths used to roam North America 10 000 years ago. And they could weigh up to 4 metric tons. If you look close enough in display museums, you should easily identify these extinct creatures.
5. They Hold Their Own
Since they’re so slow, you’d expect predators like eagles and even jaguars to have their way with them. But it’s surprising to know just how elusive sloths are. You could even say that their slowness is their advantage because it makes it hard to spot them. Moreover, they use algae which grows on their fur quite a lot to help them blend into the forest. This makes it more difficult for any predators to spot them easily. This is why you should look harder if you’re trying to find one. Especially since they may even have a green tint from these algae.
