Sloths
Are They Beneficial?
Your average sloth doesn’t look particularly helpful. He hangs around in a tree all day, moves so slowly that algae has time to grow on his fur and he only comes down once a week to relieve himself. He lives in the rainforest, eats leaves, twigs and buds and he looks vaguely like an ape, though he is actually related to the anteater and the armadillo.
Helpful? Doesn’t sound like it.
Hold on a minute, though — that algae on his fur is an entire ecosystem. It produces certain substances which protect against several diseases, including some forms of cancer. Scientists have been studying this algae and it could well prove useful in helping to protect us too.
It’s amazing what we can learn from the rainforest areas of the world. Many of our modern medicines came from these regions, yet we’re relentlessly destroying them in great swathes. Who knows what discoveries might have been made if those trees had been preserved?
Sloths are descended from a gigantic creature called Megatherium. Today’s sloths are around three feet tall and weigh 11 pounds, but the giant sloth was 12 feet tall and weighed as much as a modern day elephant. They lived during the time of the first humans, 400,000 years ago, so our ancestors knew them.
Giant sloths were vegetarian and one of their favourite foods was the avocado. They were the only species able to swallow those giant seeds which then passed through their bodies and became widely dispersed. Sloths helped to evolve and distribute the avocado for us to enjoy.
All that hanging upside-down in a tree may seem like laziness, but the sloth has such a slow metabolism that he eats very little and therefore doesn’t ravage the natural environment.
In this, he teaches us a lesson, showing that we sometimes need to slow down and enjoy life. It’s not all about living at 100 miles an hour. You can see their contentedness in those cute funny faces. Just looking at one makes you smile and helps to brighten your day.
They live alongside many other species which depend on trees for survival. Protect the trees and we protect ourselves. If animals can stay in their natural habitat, it is less likely they will intermingle with humans, which can lead to transmission of disease, traffic accidents and hostile acts towards animals.
You know, all creatures deserve to live their lives as they would choose. We have no right to stamp all over Nature as if we own the place. We share it. We need to grow out of that anthropocentric mentality. All creatures have evolved alongside us. They have their own special niches and are part of a complex interdependence that can easily be ruined by our interference.
Sloths, among so many others, are valuable in themselves as colourful denizens of the rainforest and as part of a great river of life filled with an impressive variety of life forms.
What kind of sad world would it be without them?
