Trivia question for Dec-03-2011

Olivia loves these guys.  She says they are cute…  Anyway, here is her trivia for the day.  These guys feed and sleep while hanging upside-down from branches.  Their slow-moving lifestyle and a variable body temperature let them survive on a low-energy vegetarian diet.  These guys rely on excellent camouflage for protection.  Did you know that small moths live in the fur of these animals and lay their eggs in piles of their feces?

Although they are quite slow in trees, these guys are agile swimmers. The offspring cling to their mother’s bellies for around 9 months or so. They cannot walk on all four limbs, and so they must use their front arms and claws to drag themselves across the rain forest floor (as can be seen in the video below). They do not have a mating season and breed year round.

So here are Olivia’s questions:  Tell us how this animal got its name and how they are able to survive without ever drinking water?  Also, in Brazil, these guys are hunted for their coats.  Tell us what the locals use their coat for?

Good Luck 😉

Also, Olivia and Carter came across this video and wanted to share it with everyone.

Answer:

Congratulations goes out to Angela Walker from Macedonia, Ohio for being the first with the correct answers. The odd looking mammal we featured is the Three-Toed Sloth. The three-toed sloths are tree-living mammals from South and Central America. There are four living species of three-toed sloths. These are the Brown-throated Sloth, the Maned Sloth, the Pale-throated Sloth, and the Pygmy Three-toed Sloth.

Three-toed sloths obviously got their name from what was thought to be three-toes.  They are frequently referred to as three-toed sloths, however all sloths have 3 toes, the difference is found in the number of fingers; meaning they are now more appropriately referred to as three-fingered sloths.

These guys are able to survive without ever drinking water because they obtain all the water they need from the leaves they eat and by licking dew.  In Brazil, sloths are hunted for their coats, which are used as saddle-coverings.  Here is more on these slow paced creatures: Three-Toed Sloth

Thanks for playing along 😉