The Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth is one of the slowest mammals on Earth, with a metabolic rate 40–74% lower than expected for its body size, allowing it to survive on the nutrient-poor leaves of tropical trees. Green algae growing in its grooved fur provide camouflage in the forest canopy. Sloths descend to the ground only to defecate—approximately once per week—in a ritual that may help disperse sloth moth species that live in their fur.
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