Among the greatest mysteries of the tropical rainforest are the pooping habits of sloths. Really. Those furry, slow-moving tree dwellers almost never descend from the safety of the tree tops—except ...

It’s not considered polite to talk about it, but we all do it. Some of us are in and out so quickly that nobody would even ...

The apparent docility and friendliness of “smiling” sloths have made them tourist darlings, but have also put a target on their backs. The rise in trafficking of these animals led the governments of ...

While humans wouldn’t be very happy to find that organisms were growing on their skin, particularly fungi, algae, and insects, it works out pretty well for sloths. Sloths may be hosting entire ...

Most of us are familiar with sloths, the bear-like animals that hang from trees, live life in the slow lane, take a month to digest a meal and poop just once a week. Their closest living relatives are ...

Ancient sloths ranged in size from tiny climbers to ground-dwelling giants. Now, researchers report this body size diversity was largely shaped by sloths’ habitats, and that these animals’ precipitous ...

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American Everybody loves sloths, and whenever we talk ...

Heather Ewart does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...