Sloths are mammals, but they aren't primates or marsupials – though the groups do share some similarities. Koalas, for example, are marsupials that live in trees, eat leaves and have slow metabolisms. But sloths and koalas developed these traits independently of each other. The two aren't closely related.
The biggest differences between a sloth and a koala are range, size, and speed. The koala lives exclusively in Australia, but the sloth lives in many countries in Central America and South America. Koalas are bigger than sloths, too. In fact, they can stand an entire head larger than the average sloth.
Sloths and koalas are two animals that share many similarities, some of which include the following: Sloths and koalas are both mammals. Sloths and koalas both live high up in trees in forests. Sloths and koalas are both adept at climbing trees.
Bats, they sleep around 20 hours. The sloth sleeps around 20 as well. But the cute and cuddly, yet deadly koala, it can sleep up to a whopping 22 hours. That's around 91% of the day!
Three-toed sloths are some of the slowest and seemingly laziest creatures in the world. Instead of evolving to eat more, they evolved to do less.
Adelaide Zoo is celebrating the life of one of its most iconic and oldest residents, Australia's last sloth, Miss C the Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloth.
They share a number of characteristics with wombats, who are their closest living relatives, including a backward-facing pouch.
Koala: the koala is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. There are two subspecies of koalas: adustus, the northern or Queensland koala, and victor, the southern koala.
The closest relative to the Koala is the Wombat, with three species endemic to the continent. Like the Koala, female wombats have backward facing pouches, protecting young from flying dirt as she burrows.
The brown-throated three-toed sloth is the most common of the extant species of sloth, which inhabits the Neotropical realm in the forests of South and Central America. The pale-throated three-toed sloth, which inhabits tropical rainforests in northern South America.
Who is slower? Sloths hold the title as the slowest land mammals and move in a way that is very distinct to their species.
Captive koalas have been caught sleeping up to 22 hours a day, leaving just 2 hours for activity — and they say sloths are lazy. In the wild, koalas sleep closer to 14 hours a day, but also fit in five hours of relaxation. All this rest is necessary due to the koala's diet of eucalyptus leaves.
Binturongs are primarily nocturnal and move slowly through their home in the trees to look for fruit. Because of this, they have often been confused with sloths. Like sloths, binturongs have long, shaggy coats that keep their skin dry.
Yes, koalas can give chlamydia to humans. Chlamydia is a common sexually transmitted disease in humans, and a different strain of the bacteria can infect koalas. This strain can be spread through contact with an infected koala's urine or feces.
Sloths are an integral part of tropical rain forest ecosystems. Among the most common mid-sized mammals in Central and South American rain forests is the brown-throated sloth.
One of the leading killers of Australia's endearing koalas is a debilitating bacterial infection: chlamydia.
When early European settlers first encountered koalas in Australia, they thought the tree-climbing animals were bears or monkeys. Even today people still incorrectly refer to koalas as “koala bears.” But koalas are actually marsupials, closer related to wombats and kangaroos.
However, some animals that eat leaves have only one stomach, and they use a really big caecum to do this (that's the appendix in us, which is tiny). They are called 'hindgut fermenters'. Horses, rabbits and koalas are common animals you know that are in this category.
Did you also know that the Koala is not actually a bear but rather a marsupial? That makes it more closely related to the kangaroo than a grizzly.
Koalas are often referred to as 'koala bears', but this is a misnomer of the past as they are more closely related to kangaroos, bandicoots and possums than to true bears.
Due to their inherent lack of aggression, sloths are not a threat to humans. Sloths are solitary creatures who want to be left alone, thus unlike household animals, they do not like to be touched. So, if you come too close for their comfort, they can be deadly and severely hurt people.
Adoption FAQ
1. Can I adopt a sloth from anywhere in the world? Yes!
Genetic analysis suggests today's three-toed sloths (top) are related to the giant ground sloths Megatherium (right) and Megalonyx (center), whereas modern two-toed sloths (upper right) are cousins of the South American Mylodon (left).