Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Sloths are cute. Take this video of baby sloths being washed: Until ...

While humans wouldn’t be very happy to find that organisms were growing on their skin, particularly fungi, algae, and insects, it works out pretty well for sloths. Sloths may be hosting entire ...

For the three-toed sloth, a trip to the restroom is no rest at all. It’s a long, slow descent into mortal danger from the safety of home among the upper branches of the forest. For the three-toed ...

Sloths are famous for their exceptionally slow motor skills and petite faces that seem to beam with an almost natural smile. However, less commonly known is the unusual bathroom habit of certain sloth ...

Why does a sloth poop on the ground when it spends the bulk of its time high in the trees? The behavior—oddly fastidious for the languorous creatures—is a hallmark of tree sloths: sloths chill amid ...

Biologists puzzle over the fact that sloths descend from their trees to poop. The behavior might support a rare mutualism with algae and moths that live in the creatures' fur. Humans generally don’t ...

Defecating exposes sloths to predators on the jungle floor. An unexpected ally benefits, and returns the favor. A brown-throated three-toed sloth peers over a tree's buttress root while defecating on ...

Here’s a memorable encounter between David Attenborough and a three-toed sloth, as shown in Life of Mammals. Sloths normally spend their lives hanging from high branches, but this one ambles down to ...