Saturday, March 28, 2009

Sloth


I decided a little explanation was needed on why sloths seem to have become a player in our wedding.  The Dallas World Aquarium has the only publicly displayed Three-toed Sloth in the United States.  He normally hangs out in his tree which is right next to the bar in the Rainforest section of the Aquarium.  

(All information found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloth)

"Sloths move only when necessary and even then very slowly;  they have about a quarter as much muscle tissue as other animals of similar weight...On the ground their maximum speed is .54 meters per second (1.2 mph)."

"While they sometimes sit on top of branches, they usually eat, sleep, and even give birth hanging from limbs.  They sometimes remain hanging from branches after death."

"Sloths' claws serve as their only natural defense...Despite sloths' apparent defenselessness, predators do not pose special problems:  sloths blend in with the trees and, moving only slowly, do not attract attention."

"Leaves, their main food source, provide very little energy or nutrition and do not digest easily.  Sloths therefore have very large, specialized, slow-acting stomachs...As much as two-thirds of a well-few sloth's body-weight consists of the contents of its stomach, and the digestive process can take a month or more to complete."

A very silly song, 3 minutes too long...but I did laugh out loud once.  They seem to have gotten their info off wiki also.  


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