I’m not prone to posting cutesy videos for the sake of cutesy videos, but today I’m making an exception.
Why? Because I can. 
Sloths are a fantastic reminder of just how cool and varied life on this planet can get. But apart from being absolutely adorable, there’s something else you should know about sloths.
They’re a whole ecosystem unto themselves.
See, sloths hang around in trees and move at a snail’s pace. Well, a sloth’s pace. You get it. They leave their tree only to go to the bathroom, which they do only about once a week. Inside a sloth’s fur are sloth moths. There are only 3 species of sloth moths and they only live on sloths.
So, when a sloth makes its weekly trip down the tree to the loo, the sloth moth flies out of the sloth’s fur and hops onto the fresh dung. It lays its eggs onto the new food source (mmm?) and eventually the sloth returns back up the tree.
When the eggs hatch, the sloth moth larvae eat the sloth pellets. When they’re fully grown, they fly up to the same sloth and start living in its fur, just like it’s mom.
Sloth moths aren’t the only thing living on sloths either. Because they move so slowly and don’t really go for personal hygiene, algae is able to grow on their backs. Sloths are literally living gardens. This algae is food to none other than, you guessed it – the sloth moths.
Ok, bring on the cute! Have a wild Friday!
[aniboom
Meet the sloths from Amphibian Avenger on Vimeo.
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