The three-toed sloths Bradypus variegatus are the slowest mammals on the planet; that is the conclusion which a group of scientists who spent 15 years studying these animals has come up to.
When it comes to saving energy, three-toed sloth is the undisputed leader; pandas, koalas, or possums, says the study done by Jonathan Pauli and Zachariah Peery, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“We expected that they would have very low metabolic rates, but we found out that the three-toed sloths really have a tremendously low energy requirements, much lower than their cousins, the two-toed sloths and other mammals studied,” Pauli says.
To reach this conclusion, the scientists measured the metabolic rates of 22 sloths in Costa Rica and compared with measurements in previous studies to 19 species of folívoros *.
For example, a metabolic rate field 162 kilojoules (kJ) per day per kilo, the three-toed sloths shown to have a lower gender of Phascolarctos, belong to the koalas, which consume 410kJ / day energy needs / kg or the Alouatta, howler monkeys, consuming 583 kJ / day / kg.
Giant pandas are the only ones on their heels to the three-toed sloths in the race of slow – consume 185kJ / day / kg-.
