![]() ![]() However, tropical forests are only weakly seasonal compared with temperate and boreal regions. PeerJ 8: e9756 Ĭlimate plays a key role in the life histories of tropical vertebrates. High moon brightness and low ambient temperatures affect sloth predation by harpy eagles. Cite this article Miranda EBPd, Kenup CF, Campbell-Thompson E, Vargas FH, Muela A, Watson R, Peres CA, Downs CT. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited. Licence This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. If they are caught by a predator, sloths turn from sluggish to slugger, biting fiercely, hissing, slashing with their claws, and shrieking.6 Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil DOI 10.7717/peerj.9756 Published Accepted Received Academic Editor David Nelson Subject Areas Animal Behavior, Conservation Biology, Ecology, Zoology Keywords Bradypus, Canopy, Choloepus, Foraging, Seasonality, Apex predator, Tropical forest, Deciduousness, Moonlight, Harpia harpyja Copyright © 2020 Miranda et al. About once every week, they descend to go to the bathroom, slowly moving about by digging their front claws into the dirt and dragging their bodies. The algae that grows on sloths' fur also helps them avoid predators by letting them blend in with green leaves. They also have two extra neck vertebrae that allow them to turn their heads almost all the way around! Some scientists think sloths developed their slow-motion lifestyle so they would be less noticeable to predators such as hawks and cats, which rely heavily on their eyesight when hunting. Three-toed sloths have facial coloring that makes them look like they're always smiling. Two-toed sloths are slightly bigger and tend to spend more time hanging upside-down than their three-toed cousins, who will often sit upright in the fork of a tree branch. ![]() The two species are quite similar in appearance, with roundish heads, sad-looking eyes, tiny ears, and stubby tails. There are two main species of sloth, identified by whether they have two or three claws on their front feet. They can be 2 to 2.5 feet (0.6 to 0.8 meters) long and, depending on species, weigh from 8 to 17 pounds (3.6 to 7.7 kilograms). With their long arms and shaggy fur, they resemble monkeys, but they are actually related to armadillos and anteaters. Sloths live in the tropical forests of Central and South America. In fact, they're so incredibly sluggish, algae actually grows on their fur. These drowsy tree-dwellers sleep up to 20 hours a day! And even when they are awake, they barely move at all. It's a good thing sloths don't have to go to school. They can last a month or two without another big meal. Sharks don't chew their food they rip off chunks of meat and swallow them whole. They can smell a single drop of blood from up to a third of a mile (0.53 kilometers) away. Using their tails as propellers, they swim upward at a fast sprint, burst out of the water in a leap called a breach, and fall back into the water with the seal in their mouths. When they see a seal at the surface of the water, sharks will often position themselves underneath the seal. Sharks count on the element of surprise as they hunt. As they grow, the sharks’ favorite prey becomes sea mammals, especially sea lions and seals. Young great white sharks eat fish (including other sharks) and rays. Many baby sharks do not survive their first year. But before it grows larger, the pup must avoid predators bigger than it is-including other great white sharks. ![]() The pup (which is what a baby shark is called) will live its life at the top of the ocean's food chain. At birth the baby shark is already about 5 feet (1.5 meters) long as it grows it may reach a length up to four times that. Born on the east and west coasts of North America, the south of Africa and southwest Australia, baby sharks are on their own right from the start. When a great white shark is born, along with up to a dozen siblings, it immediately swims away from its mother. ![]()
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